Live to Rise
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: When a member of the council is killed, the Avengers must fight to protect a friend, who has been accused of committing the murder and a kill order is put out against him. In the midst of the conspiracy, things become more complicated when a new threat rises and all of the Avengers are needed. This is a sequel to my story, A New Way to Bleed.
1. Chapter 1

Live to Rise

Chapter One

What was once Stark Tower, was now known as the Avengers Tower, as Tony Stark never felt the need or desire to repair the letters on the roof of his building after the attack against the city. It was ironic that what used to be STARK plastered on the building was destroyed and was now only left with the A. The large, single letter suited him, as Tony discovered that his tower now deserved to stand as a monument, not to him, but to all of the Avengers, as the six of them had fought together to save the world from a threat like no one had ever known before.

Tony more than welcomed each one of his teammates into what had once been just his and Pepper's home. Pepper had been surprised, but supportive as Tony was giving them a place to stay where they could feel safe, not only from the numerous reporters looking for stories about the heroes, but also from the scrutiny and anger that a slightly smaller percentage of the world cast down on them for the damage caused throughout the city. Tony even built a training room where each of the teammates could work out against technology that created what felt like real scenarios in which they could face off against on their missions. He was very proud of the end result.

Though Steve Rogers had his own apartment somewhere in the middle of the town, the super soldier spent most of his time at the tower when he wasn't on a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D., as he grew more comfortable around the other Avengers aside from just while they worked. Despite Stark's relentless jabs at Steve's inability to get used to today's technology, Captain America enjoyed being among the company of his friends, even though from time to time he felt homesick for the world he once knew seventy years ago.

Bruce Banner accepted Tony's offer graciously and worked alongside the billionaire on many of his projects, except for when the doctor was called away to help the rare sicknesses that appeared from diseases or plagues that were foreign to most other doctors throughout the world. As Dr. Banner and the Hulk had finally come to accept each other for who they were, that they were both good, the monster was no longer a problem for anyone, except for the evils that the Avengers fought against.

Thor had returned to Earth for a final time after Loki's trial was finally over, as he decided it was where he wanted to stay. In the end, Thor's father had sentenced Loki to a confinement of an icy tomb, where the god of frost child origins would remain encased for what was over a thousand years in Earth time, or for eternity should he choose not to change his evil ways. Thor figured Earth would be where he could be of the most good since new threats were coming out now that the Avengers were known throughout what Thor described were the nine realms of the universe.

As for Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow wasn't at all comfortable among the agents back at S.H.I.E.L.D. as she had once been before her life had changed, whether or not it was for the better, she was still unsure, as the fact that her partner, whom she trusted above everyone else, was still out there somewhere all alone while trying to work things out for himself. Despite her almost cold demeanor that came across more often than not as of late, she was welcomed among the others whenever she wasn't sent on a mission and deep down, she was grateful for their acceptance of who she was.

Six months had gone by since the attack on New York City and within that period, fear among mankind that the world could be destroyed at any time increased throughout the planet, as did the crime that took place almost daily. Like before, law enforcements were still capable of dealing with the increase. However, some of the threats that were slowly beginning to rise up were becoming too much for them, which is when S.H.I.E.L.D. called on the Avengers to fight, notwithstanding the discomfort among the council, whom the agency's director, Nick Fury, and his new right hand, Agent Maria Hill, were still forced to answer to, as Fury and Hill never ousted them for their action of discharging a nuclear missile into downtown Manhattan in order to gain leverage over them, should they make a bad call again.

Night had fallen hours ago throughout the city on a night when the one eyed man came by the Avengers Tower to speak with his newly formed team about an urgent matter, despite the lateness of the hour. This time, he decided to ring the doorbell so to speak as he asked JARVIS to let Stark know he had come. Luckily, each member of the team was there when he arrived and none of them appeared to be prepared for bed any time soon, as they were all inside the main room on the top floor talking about their latest fight.

When Tony agreed to let Fury up and after the founder of the team arrived in the elevator, Tony was the first to speak up as he said, "Hello, Nick. How's your day going? I take it from the fact that it is past two in the morning that something big has come up. Am I right or are you just here to tell us good job on our take down of those bank robbers with the freaky skin conditions?"

Fury glared at Tony as he answered, "Those bank robbers with the freaky skin conditions as you say, call themselves the serpent society and from what we've been told, there are plenty more of them out there, who are extremely dangerous, as you found out today. However, that is not what I'm here for. An hour ago, I received a call from the council, telling me that one of their own was murdered two nights ago while he was in Prague visiting with another world council leader. Truth be told, I didn't really care until they went on to tell Agent Hill and I how the member was killed. They say it was from being shot through his heart with one of Agent Barton's arrows."

"It's a lie!" Natasha responded forcefully as she stood up from the couch where she had been sitting and crossed her arms. "Clint didn't do this. He wouldn't do this and you know that."

"Of course I know that, just as you do," Fury replied. "Unfortunately, there's nothing I can say that will get them to change their mind about putting a kill order out for him. They would prefer it if he is brought back in body bag, rather than alive to save them the trouble of having to capture him and having a trial."

Steve spoke up saying, "Then, we need to do something to help him."

Natasha began to make a move toward her room as cut him off and answered, "I'm going to find him. If they come for him, I will make them pay."

"If you go after him, Agent Romanoff, then the agents sent for him will see you as a traitor too and they won't hesitate to put you down either," the director responded firmly.

"What exactly do you expect us to do then, Nick?" Tony asked in frustration. "Sit her and twirl our thumbs, while hoping that our friend can dodge the hellhounds for the rest of his life, however long that is?"

Fury replied, "If that was what I wanted, do you really believe that I would have come here to tell you all this?"

Tony haughtily answered, "I don't know, with you who knows what your true motives are."

"Back when Barton was first taken control of by Loki, Loki gave him the order to kill me," Fury responded resolutely. "Agent Barton fired a shot at my chest, knowing that I always wear a kevlar vest. He should have gone for a head-shot, but he didn't, which means he fought against Loki's power, just as he did when he fired at Agent Hill. He fought Loki for as long as he could, saving both our lives. I once trusted Agent Barton because I trusted Coulson. Now I trust him based on his merits alone. I owe him. So, Agent Romanoff, I want you and Rogers to go find him, let him know that we're here for his support. The rest of us will stay behind and do whatever it takes to clear his name and find the real killer."

"That sounds good enough for me," Bruce said as he stood up from behind both Steve and Natasha, followed by Thor, who nodded in agreement.

Tony nodded as well and replied, "Okay, well me too. So, where do we start?"


	2. Chapter 2

Live to Rise

Chapter Two

Two nights later…

Somewhere in the middle of the city of Kiev, a prisoner was tied to a chair in the center of some kind of cell with hardly any light except for what was shining in through the bars in the tiny widow up in the corner. The building was once a small jail used in a prison camp for the prisoners back during the wars, but had long since been abandoned.

The prisoner had been captured and beaten for over a day now, as bruises covered his face, underneath a large laceration that ran down his left cheek, blood trickled out from the corners of his mouth, his wrists were sore and bloody as his bindings cut deep into his skin as the beatings progressed, and finally, his right shoulder had been purposely dislocated by his captors in hope of getting him to talk. However, the man remained silent as he still refused to give out whatever information his captors wanted to gain. He never even once cried out in pain, as if this kind of treatment was more than familiar to him, and little did they know, it was.

After remaining alone in the dark for several hours, a large, burly man slowly entered the room, while the prisoner kept his head down and eyes on the floor, until a small light was turned on from above him and suddenly the captor roughly pulled the prisoner's head up by his chin in order to get him to look at him.

The man spoke up menacingly and with a thick Russian accent, "I have grown tired of your silence and insolence, Hawkeye. You are pretty well known throughout the criminal underworld; the silent and invisible assassin. When my men and I discovered you were in Prague, I knew I had to take the chance of capturing you. You certainly didn't make it easy for us. However, it isn't you that I really care about. I just want to know where the Black Widow is currently seeking refuge. We've learned recently of your kinship with the spider and understand that the two of you share a special bond, which means if anyone knows where she is hiding, it's you."

Clint stared at the man as he replied, "I'm flattered, but unfortunately for you, I don't know what you're talking about. I know of the Black Widow, but you can hardly say I know her. I was sent to kill her, I failed, end of story. It was a long time ago."

The man continued calmly, "I know that you are lying. Do you really think that you can withstand my torture for much longer? Do you have any idea what it is I am capable of?"

"I understand you used to work alongside Romanoff's father, which means I am very much aware of the horrors you're capable of," Clint answered angrily as he turned away to look at his surroundings for when he would make his escape. "I should have killed you a long time ago. If I had, a lot of innocent people could have been spared. When I get out of here, I'll have to rectify that. You can do to me whatever you want, Petrovich, but it won't change anything. I won't help you."

"Then, it looks like I am going to have to turn to my last resort," Petrovich responded as he pulled out a small wooden box from his inside jacket pocket. "You will regret not telling me the location to Miss. Romanoff's safe haven. Have you ever heard of what the Japanese call, needles of fire?"

Clint looked back at Petrovich as he replied, "I can't say that I have; sounds pleasant."

His captor opened the box, slowly pulled out about a five inch long, thin needle, and carefully held it up for Clint to see as he continued to explain, "The Chinese and Japanese mostly use these needles as a form of acupuncture, but I've also discovered that they can be extremely useful methods of torture. The needles alone can cause pain depending on how it is inserted into the skin, but on these, there's a little something extra, used to increase the pain levels tenfold; an extremely thin coating of a powder like substance, which causes a burning sensation, made to make your skin and muscles feel as if you're on fire. Most of my prisoners give into telling me what I want to know after just the first needle. A second one will amplify the needles' effects, and should I have to use a third needle, well eventually your heart will give out. What do you have to say now?"

"You'll never find the Black Widow because of me," Clint answered coarsely after Petrovich slowly finished inserting the first needle into the right side of his neck, just behind his ear lobe, and left in in as its effects began to kick in right away. When you come back in a little while to start in with the second one, I will kill you."

"I'd like to see you try," Petrovich responded smugly as Clint lowered his head down to rest it on his chest as he endured the pain now flowing in his system. "I will see you in a little while, Hawkeye. Enjoy your last few hours here in your cell. Oh and by the way, I also received word that a price has been put on your head for murdering some politician during your time in Prague. Once you're dead, it looks like I will be coming into a good amount of money thanks to you."

Without looking up, Clint replied, "I am well aware."

Meanwhile…

Steve and Natasha slowly and cautiously walked along the streets of Prague after arriving in the city by Quinjet, which the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot had parked on the rooftop of one of the largest, or tallest, buildings there. Instead of wearing their suits as they normally would have if it were a normal mission, they dressed down in their street clothes in hope of blending in with the rest of the people around them so as to not draw attention to themselves.

Natasha led the way as they finally came to a small apartment that served as one of her partner's many safe houses throughout the world. At first glance everything seemed normal, but as they entered the main room, they found that the place had been trashed and in the middle of the floor, there was a dead body with one of Clint's daggers sticking out of his back. Right away they could tell the body wasn't the archer, as his build was nowhere close to whomever this guy was.

As Natasha bent down in order to observe the body, hoping that she would be able to identify him, Steve slowly looked around the room as he said, "It looks like we're too late. What do you suppose happened here?"

"Whoever attacked him, didn't work for S.H.I.E.L.D.," Natasha answered as she pushed down the man's shirt collar further in order to get a closer look at the partially covered tattoo on his neck. "Even if he was wearing regular clothes like we are, they wouldn't be like these. Also, this tattoo looks like a gang insignia here in Prague. It's familiar, but I can't pinpoint it until I do more research. We and S.H.I.E.L.D. are not the only ones after him. I just hope that Clint managed to get away."

"Me too," Steve responded. "Don't worry, Ma'am. We will find him and we'll make sure that neither S.H.I.E.L.D. nor anyone else who wants to hurt him can get to him. Then, we'll drag him back to the states either kicking and screaming, or unconscious if we have to."

Natasha smiled as she responded, "I couldn't agree with you more, Cap. Thank you by the way, for coming here with me. It means a lot, even if I don't show it."

Steve nodded and said, "It's an honor to fight to protect my friends, Miss. Romanoff. Now, let's get out of here so that we can go and find our missing hawk before it's too late."


	3. Chapter 3

Live to Rise

Chapter Three

Back at the Avengers Tower…

Tony, Bruce, and Pepper were busy scanning through reports about the death of the council member with help from JARVIS and even from Fury, although a little more reluctantly as he was anxious about going through files that even he wasn't even supposed to be looking into. Tony and his A.I. made it possible for them to do so after hacking into their systems. The director had gone back to the Helicarrier to meet up with Agent Hill, where he felt there was more privacy from the prying eyes of the council, and in case the Avengers out in the field needed faster back up should they run into any trouble, which was highly likely. Thor stood back and observed the proceedings since Earth's technology and the red tape that surrounded everything that was going on was lost on him.

Unfortunately, after going through everything that had been reported in the news about the murder, as well as the files, which had been gathered by the remaining council members, they found that all evidence seemed to point straight at their friend. If they didn't know Clint, they would all have believed he was guilty of all the charges that the teammates discovered the council was bringing up against the archer.

"Do you have any idea how long it took for me to hack into the council's systems deep enough and well enough so that we can't get caught?" Tony complained suddenly as he threw his hands up in the air in frustration.

"Of course we do," Bruce answered as everyone turned to look at the billionaire. "We've all been here with you the whole time since Fury came to us. What's wrong?"

Tony looked at him as if he was joking and asked, "What's wrong? I've spent hours doing all this and so far, all we've learned is that Barton has been framed really well and what the charges are; murder, conspiracy, treason against the United States, jay walking might as well be added to this list, as these charges are ridiculous. I could have told you all that without all this time being wasted. The council is out to get him."

Thor spoke up as he responded, "Perhaps you are right, Stark."

"What do you mean, perhaps I'm right?" Tony replied. "Of course I'm right. About what exactly?"

"Focus Tony," Bruce answered as he stood up from the chair he had been sitting on in front of the table. "What if the remaining councilmen are looking for a scapegoat to pin the tragedy of Loki's attack on and since Loki isn't here to be blamed, they're choosing to use Agent Barton instead, as he was working alongside him for part of the time?"

Pepper quickly responded, "Yes, but do you really believe that they would go so far as to kill one of their own just to start all this?"

Tony looked back at the holographic projection in the center of the table showing Clint's picture and file from both before and after he started working for S.H.I.E.L.D. and then replied, "Of course they'd go this far. I'm just not sure how to prove it. Everything and I mean everything points to our man."

"Maybe Natasha and Steve managed to find something out in their search for Agent Barton," Thor stated. "Perhaps you should make contact with them, as we have not heard from them for almost two days."

"That's an excellent idea, Hammerhead!" Tony answered and then turned to the projection once again. "JARVIS, I need you to contact Agent Romanoff and Captain America."

The A.I. responded, "Of course, Sir."

Within a minute, Natasha's face appeared as a new projection as she answered the call and said, "_Stark, we were just about to call._"

"Yeah, well it looks like I got to you first," Tony replied childishly. "Please tell us you've found something that will help us, mainly Clint? We've got bupkis; just one big theory that's going to be hell to prove."

"_Unfortunately, we discovered that Clint was definitely here in Prague at the time of the murder, after talking to one of his contacts from his days before working for Fury._" Natasha answered in frustration. "_We don't know why he was here, but he's not anymore. In fact, we think he's in big trouble._"

Pepper spoke up again as she responded, "Of course he's in trouble. He's being framed for murder."

Steve's face appeared in another projection as well as he replied, "_No, she means that we and the councilmen are not the only ones looking for him. When we arrived at his safe house here, we found a dead body on the floor and that his place had been obliterated. There was obviously a big fight and Barton was forced to defend himself against his attackers._"

"_Clint must have killed him as one of his daggers was sticking out of the guy's back, but I discovered a tattoo on the back of his neck that is an old gang's insignia here in Prague,_" Natasha continued. "_After I discovered where I had seen the tattoo before, we went to have a talk with the gang leader. It turns out, that Clint had gone to them and asked them to help him infiltrate whoever it is looking for him by setting up a fake brawl between them in front of the men. Barton's followers tried to break off the fight, but Clint escaped in order to make his plan look real and had the gang explain to the men that they knew where Barton was hiding out._"

"Agent Barton wanted to be caught, but why?" Thor asked in confusion. "I do not understand why he would do this if he knew he was being sought out by these men."

Steve answered, "_We're not sure, but the last thing the gang leader told us was that they discovered one of their own had joined up with Clint's attackers, instead of leaving once they showed them where his safe house was. The dead gang member may have tried to kill Clint instead of helping the men to capture him. We're not really sure about much more beyond that, except that the gang leader thinks he overheard something about them possibly taking Agent Barton to Kiev. We've searched everywhere around Prague and found nothing else, so we're heading to Kiev now._"

"Nice work, guys!" Tony responded. "Keep up the good work and let us know what you find. "We'll keep working from our end. If my theory is correct, clearing Agent Barton's name isn't going to be as easy as everybody else here thought it would be."

"Don't you mean Thor's theory and as easy as you thought it would be?" Bruce asked skeptically. "Please, give the god of thunder and lightning credit where credit is due and stop trying to make yourself look smarter than the rest of us."

Tony replied cheekily, "But, I am smarter than everyone else here in this room. I'm smarter than all of you, probably put together, except for maybe JARVIS. Although, I was the guy who created him, so yeah, I'm smarter than him too."

Natasha rolled her eyes and then spoke up again saying, "_Whatever you say, Stark. We're out. Do whatever it is you have to do. We'll be in touch._"

"We should probably call Fury to let him know what's going on," Pepper said once Natasha and Steve had hung up and their images disappeared.

"_No need, Mrs. Potts,_" Fury's voice suddenly sounded as Tony quickly pulled up the video feed from their communications aboard the Helicarrier. "_Stark already queued me and Agent Hill in to your conversation, back as you were talking about your theory about the council framing Agent Barton. I told him he better or I would make the next few years miserable for him. He knows I can do it too. Do you all agree with it? Do you feel strongly enough that we should move on in a next course of action?_"

Maria Hill came on as she added, "_Because once an allegation this huge is made, it cannot be undone. There's no going back and there's a good chance that the director and I cannot protect the Avengers any longer, let alone us. You might be able to escape prosecution, but if Agent Barton is caught by S.H.I.E.L.D. and the council, he will be executed._"

"If he's caught, that's what will happen to him anyway even if we don't do anything, that is if he isn't killed on sight," Bruce answered. "What we do can't affect him anymore than he's already being affected, so yes, we're moving forward."

"_I'm surprised at you, Dr. Banner,_" Director Fury responded smugly. "_I always thought you were more of a pacifist instead of the aggressor._"

Bruce smiled as he replied, "I might be, but the other guy isn't so much and I think he's finally beginning to rub off on me."


	4. Chapter 4

Live to Rise

Chapter Four

Back in the prison in Kiev about four hours later…

The moonlight continued to shine through the cell window's bars, slightly illuminating Clint as he remained tied tightly to the chair in the center of the room. The archer wasn't sure of the time, but based on the time he had been captured and about how long he felt he had been a prisoner, he knew that it was early into the next morning.

The needle was still sticking out from his neck, but the effects of the powder substance that were causing the extreme burning sensation throughout his system had finally begun to dim, enough for Clint to be able to focus on his escape from his bonds. However, as he was working on twisting his wrists in order to loosen up the cords, despite the pain from them biting into his skin, Petrovich slowly opened up the door and walked back into the room as a smirk lined his face, while two of his men stood guard just outside.

As his captor moved forward and once again took a seat in another chair in front of Clint, not noticing that his bonds have been loosened, the archer kept his head down on his chest and his eyes closed while he listened, not only to the man before him as he began to talk, but also to his surroundings while he waited for the opportune moment to make his attack. Listening to the noises around him allowed Barton to be aware of what was outside waiting for him. The more he knew, the easier the escape would be.

Petrovich put his fingers over the end of the end of the needle and gently pulled it out from the assassin's neck as he spoke up saying, "You obviously have a very high threshold for pain, Hawkeye. However, it is not unexpected that you would be so resilient to the needle's effects. I am curious to see how you would do if I were to be forced to inject the second one. Are you ready to tell me of Natasha Romanoff's whereabouts?"

When Clint didn't reply, Petrovich continued, "Do you even know why I want the Black Widow dead? Because, she murdered my brother and nearly killed me. I was lucky to have escaped. I will kill the woman, one way or another, just as she is killing you by you keeping silent. I suppose a second needle is required after all, just as I hoped it would be."

"I really don't think you want to do that," Clint replied firmly and quietly as his captor raised up a second needle and was about to inject it into the crook of his left arm.

However, before the man could react, Clint suddenly pulled his left wrist free of the cord, swiftly grabbed the needle from him, and thrust it into Petrovich's neck, just as the captor had done earlier to him. Petrovich was too stunned and in too much pain as the powder began to kick in to talk or to scream out to his men for help. Instead, all he could do was stare up at the master assassin as he worked on breaking free the rest of the way.

"I told you that you shouldn't do that," Clint said as he moved to stand above the man on the ground and roughly pulled him up by the collar of his shirt. "Monsters like you always underestimate what it is I'm capable of and it's not like I'm even a pretty face. My old partner on the other hand, she's gotten a lot of men to fall in love with her, just by her looks alone. You were a fool if you truly believed your men were able to capture me because they were that well trained."

Petrovich struggled to ask, "What are you… talking about?"

Hawkeye let him fall back to the ground as he responded, "I learned of your plans to try to kill the Black Widow a few weeks ago and thanks to a few contacts, I found out that you had men stationed in Prague. So, I purposely set them up to capture me, just so that I could get to you. You sat there and spoke of wanting her to pay for killing your brother, yet you don't see that the only reason why she did was because you betrayed her and her father and then killed him when you wanted to take over his men and enterprises. I won't allow you or your men to hurt her anymore. Goodbye, Petrovich."

As soon as he finished, Clint pushed the needle deeper into the man's neck in order to kill him as he had said that he would. Then, he walked over to the door and as soon as he opened it, he swiftly took down the guards standing watch. Once he found his bow and quiver, still full of his arrows, he worked to take out the rest of Petrovich's men inside and outside of the prison. It wasn't until after his task at hand was finished that he rested for a few minutes against a jeep that sat outside the building, as the fiery drug was still in his system and was feeling tired and ill after being tortured for as long as he had been. However, he finally pushed on and drove off toward the center of town.

Meanwhile…

After landing on the outskirts of Kiev, Natasha and Steve walked into town and began to question some of the locals in hope that maybe they had seen their friend around at all, most likely made to look like a prisoner or captive. The two Avengers knew that Clint had been taken by multiple men, but they didn't know who. If they had come through town, somebody would have seen something, but as person after person claimed they saw nothing, they had begun to suspect that his captors had not come through after all.

Natasha and Steve were talking quietly amongst themselves as they stood in an alleyway away from prying eyes, but after a few minutes, Natasha suddenly grew silent as she began to look around their surroundings, as she had begun to sense someone was behind them, and then Steve asked, "What do you hear? Are we being followed?"

"We have been followed ever since we left New York, but they are starting to become sloppy," Natasha answered softly, then called out loudly to their invisible aggressors. "You might as well come out to face us. We know you're there."

"We're sorry for the deception, Agent Romanoff, but we are here for the same reason as you," a man whom she and Steve discovered to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. replied smugly, as five others stepped out from the shadows behind him.

"Our reasons aren't the same," Natasha responded. "We're here to protect Agent Barton from your bosses. We're here to protect him from you. You knew we'd go look for him once we received word that the council had put a kill order out on him, so you followed us, hoping we would lead you straight to him."

Steve spoke up as he said firmly, "I suggest you go back to the council to tell them that we will be bringing Barton in, alive, and that we will prove his innocence against these ridiculous charges they have him on. If you don't, if you make a move to stop us, we will stop you in turn. Do I make myself clear?"

One of the other agents answered, "Is the great and honorable Captain America really threatening us? If we had any say, all of you freaks deserve to be locked up for the destruction you caused. If it wasn't for you…"

"If it wasn't for the Avengers, Earth would be under Loki's rule by now and millions more would be dead," Natasha interrupted. "Leave as the captain said, or you will know how it feels to be threatened."

"Agent Barton will die as he is nothing but a murderer and a traitor," the first agent who spoke replied. "And there is nothing you can do to stop the council from bringing justice for his crimes."

As soon as he said this, Natasha made the first attack against the man that threatened her partner's life by punching him in the center of his face and then kicked his legs out from under him. Steve followed as he took on three of his own men. It wasn't long before each of the men were down on the ground, some of them alive, but unconscious and two of them dead, as they had advanced the attack by pulling out their guns. Unfortunately, the Avengers were too distracted to notice as the agent that the Black Widow had knocked down first had come to and pulled up his own gun, pointing it directly at Steve's back.


	5. Chapter 5

Live to Rise

Chapter Five

Just as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on the ground was about to pull his gun's trigger as its barrel was pointed at Steve, an arrow suddenly flew straight past the right side of the captain's head and sliced through the palm of his hand, pinning it to the building behind him, causing the gun to fall to the ground. The quick motion caused both Steve and Natasha to stop where they stood in surprise and stare down at their attacker, who cried out in pain as the projectile hit him, then quickly turned their heads up in time to watch as Hawkeye suddenly swung down from the fire escape above them that he was standing on moments before by using one of his grappling hooks and bow.

Natasha smiled, but as he landed and then walked right past her and Steve, she knew something was very wrong. Instead of him leaving to try to clear his head so that he could learn to forgive himself for things that weren't even his fault to begin with, he had only grown darker, even more full of hate for himself. She didn't need to hear him speak to notice all this, as the anger and pain across his face said it all. Steve could see it too.

Clint walked by his friends and up to the man he had just pinned down, then leaned down to look at him directly into his eyes as Clint spoke up sternly, "I need you to go back and tell the council that Agent Romanoff and Captain America are only here to warn me of the charges that have been brought up against me. They, including the other Avengers, Fury, and Agent Hill, are not to be harmed in any way or brought up on any charges. As for me, I will come in, but only if I fail to find whoever it is framing me for killing the council member. Then, you and the council can do with me whatever you wish. Until then, they better leave me alone or I won't be so kind. Do I make myself clear?"

The agent glared at Clint as he angrily replied, "You've made your point, Barton. Don't think this is over."

"Between us it is," the archer responded as he replaced his bow over his back and turned to walk away. "At least for now."

"Thank you for saving my life again, Barton," Steve spoke up gently as he and Natasha jogged after him to catch up after they had all walked away from the agents left either unconscious or dead on the ground behind them. "That was an amazing shot. It's really good to see you. We've been looking everywhere."

Without turning to look at them, Clint answered coldly, "You shouldn't be here. As you can see I'm fine."

Natasha swiftly moved faster in order to cut him off and stood in front of him as she replied, "No, you're not. What's going on with you, Clint? I expected not to hear from you all this time, but I thought you were trying to find a way to forgive yourself, not to go back to your old life."

"If I was back into my old life, Natasha, that man and his friends would all be dead," Clint responded. "And you would start to believe that I did kill the councilman. Maybe it would be better if you did. Then, this wouldn't be so hard."

"What are you talking about?" Natasha pleaded as she continued to stare into his eyes that were now soft, but sad and empty. "What's going on with you? You look like you haven't slept for days, you're hurt, and you're burning up again."

Steve cut in as he said, "It's more like he hasn't slept for months; probably not since he's left us in New York. I've seen the darkness in your face many times, worn by the men I fought alongside with in the wars. Please, let us help you, Agent Barton, Clint. Come back with us. We know you didn't do the things that the council claim you have and we will fight to protect you."

Clint finally turned to look back at Steve as he answered softly, "That's the problem, Captain. I can't let you help me. If you do, then the council will finally have the cause they need to disband the Avengers once and for all and to fire both Fury and Agent Hill. It may even be enough to bring you all up on charges as well. I won't let that happen, not for me."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice anymore," Natasha replied as she suddenly grabbed him from behind and squeezed his neck long enough until he fell unconscious, then slowly lowered him down to the ground as she pulled his body into her arms. "I always was the stronger fighter."

"Why did you do that?" Steve asked as he stared down at her in shock as to what she had just done to her partner. "I was only joking earlier when I said we would drag him back home either kicking and screaming or unconscious. I didn't expect that you would actually do it."

Natasha put her fingers on his neck under his chin in order to check his pulse, then gently began to stoke his face, feeling the heat radiating off of his body, and looked up at Steve as she responded, "I had to. He's really sick. If I didn't knock him out, he would have run off and left us to try to chase after him again. I won't let him fight to defend himself alone no matter what he says. I've also seen this look of defeat on people in my past; on those who have given up on themselves. They're all dead. If we don't protect him, especially from himself, he will die. I won't lose Clint too. Will you help me get him back to the Quinjet?"

Steve nodded as he answered, "We won't lose him, Natasha. We'll find a way to help him, I promise."

Back aboard the Helicarrier…

Fury stood at his usual post aboard the ship as he looked around at his surroundings to observe the actions of his men in front of him. Before Loki had begun his war that had started this whole mess, the one-eyed leader trusted each one of the men he and Coulson had hired to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. However, when the council had gone behind his back to set off the nuclear missile toward the city, at least two of his men had betrayed him and followed the council's orders by launching the weapon. If it wasn't for Stark, New York City would have been leveled and millions of people would now be dead. Two of his own were responsible and now the director had no idea who he could trust, except for Maria Hill and the Avengers. It was an unsettling feeling.

As he continued to ponder these thoughts, Maria slowly walked up to stand beside him and as if she could read his thoughts, she spoke up saying, "Don't worry, Sir. I have no doubt that by the end of this whole mess involving Barton and the council, we'll learn exactly where each of the men's loyalties lie. I hope you know where I stand."

"I do, Agent Hill," Fury replied. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're beginning to become more like Coulson every day."

"I can only hope that you mean that as a compliment," Maria responded. "He was a good man."

"I do mean it as a compliment," Fury answered again. "Have you heard any more from the others?"

Maria looked over at the director as she replied, "No Sir, but the council is on again. They seem upset about something."

Fury nodded, then moved to stand in front of another workstation as he pulled up the screens that showed the men and woman's darkened faces, and spoke up saying, "Good evening, councilmen and councilwoman, or maybe good morning is better. What can I do for you?"

"You can begin by telling us why we just received word that two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were just murdered by Agent Romanoff and the rest of the agents we sent after Agent Barton were knocked down by Rogers?" one of the men on the screen asked angrily.

"Agent Romanoff and Captain Rogers must have only gone to search for Barton in hope to warn him of the charges being brought up against him," Director Fury responded. "If two of your men were killed, it was because Romanoff was trying to defend herself, as well as Agent Barton, due to your unreasonable kill order you have placed on his head. I'd say that your men must have become a little too trigger happy."

Another council member retorted, "One of the surviving agents said that Agent Barton fired an arrow into the palm of his hand in order to pin him down and then threatened his life. What do you have to say about that, Director Fury? Does this sound like the work of an innocent man?"

The director answered, "As your man is still alive to tell you all this, it sounds to me like he is only defending himself as I just said. Your man probably had a weapon in his hand at the time. If Clint Barton is the monster you all seem to think he is, he would have killed your agents. I assure you, all they want to do is protect him while they look to clear his name and find the real men responsible for framing him, which they will."

"Are you threatening us now, Director Fury?" the council woman asked as each of them could sense that he was stating an accusation toward them.

"Only if you have something to hide about what's really going on here," Fury replied smugly. "Fury out."


	6. Chapter 6

Live to Rise

Chapter Six

Meanwhile, at the Avengers Tower…

The sun had risen the next morning and everyone that had been up for the last few nights in search for a way to bring down the council and clear Clint's name had fallen asleep, as they couldn't take staying awake anymore; everyone that is except for Bruce. Despite his exhaustion, the doctor pushed through it because if anyone understood how Agent Barton felt about not being in control of himself as he did the horrible things he had, it was him, even though he finally had come to accept himself and the Hulk. It was his turn to help Clint now.

Tony was the first to wake up as the sun rose and after stretching, he slowly got up off the couch and walked over to the table where he saw Bruce was still sitting at reading over some of Clint's old mission files. Bruce was too enthralled in the readings to notice Tony as he came over and so he was easily startled when Tony suddenly patted him on his back as he called out good morning, rather obnoxiously.

"For crying out loud, Tony, do you really want the Hulk to come out and trash your home again?" Bruce asked as he stared up at the billionaire, who only grinned cheekily.

"Actually, no, but I couldn't resist," Tony responded. "What exactly has you so caught up in your own little world that you couldn't hear me coming?"

Bruce looked back at the file up on the screen in front of him and answered, "Both Agent Barton's and Agent Romanoff's fighting skills are off the charts. It's amazing and hard to believe they're only human."

Tony retorted, "I'm only human and look at what I accomplished?"

"Yes and no offense to your brains, but you also had a suit of armor protecting you while you were out there flying around and taking out the Chitauri one by one," Bruce replied. "Our team's assassins were on their own with a couple of guns, a high tech bracelet, a bow, and arrows. You have to admit that they're a great asset to the Avengers, or will be once we get Barton back."

"I never denied that," Tony responded casually. "The word master in front of assassin really does suit them. Why do you think I don't mind having them as a part of our merry band of misfits? JARVIS, can you call in my order for me now please?"

The A.I. called back as he answered, "Right away, Sir. Will that be just pepperoni this morning, or would you like all the trimmings?"

Bruce looked up at Tony oddly as Tony replied, "I'd like just pepperoni, J. Oh, and tell them not to forget my special coffee this time. Yesterday morning's tasted like a cup of… well I don't know what it tasted like, but it was bad enough for me to spit it out. Just make sure they get it right."

"You order pizza in the mornings, for breakfast, along with some kind of special coffee?" Bruce asked.

"Yes, so?" the billionaire responded as if it wasn't a strange thing for him to do. "A lot of people eat pizza for breakfast. I just prefer mine hot and fresh. There's a pizza joint a few blocks from here that finally agreed to open up this early. I pay them well for their services. What exactly got you looking into Agent Barton's past anyway, instead of going to bed like the rest of us?"

Bruce answered solemnly, "Well, we ran out of information that might be of help to us in clearing his name, so since we couldn't do that anymore, I wanted to get to know the kind of man he is a little better. I already know he's a good man. What I mean is that I figured there could be a possibility that it isn't the council trying to frame him. It's possible someone else that works at S.H.I.E.L.D. may have a grudge against him that's large enough to make them want to bring him down too."

Tony replied, "I thought we all agreed last night that we were going full steam ahead against the council members. At least, that was my impression."

"Believe me, I've got a gut feeling that they are behind this too, but usually when people with as much power as they've got want to bring someone down, they've got a front man to do it for them so that their involvement remains hidden," Bruce said firmly.

"Dr. Banner, you are a genius," Tony responded. "Still not as much of a genius as me, but a genius nonetheless. We should probably check in with the captain and Black Widow, just to find out if they've found anything yet."

Thor had woken up a few minutes ago as Tony and Bruce were talking and then finally walked over to the table as he asked, "How long have I been asleep for?"

Tony looked down at his expensive, gold watch and answered, "A few hours. Is that strange for you?"

"I used to go for days, if not what you would call a week here back on Asgard," Thor replied. "I guess the more I remain here in your world, the more your behaviors and routines are rubbing off on me."

"Sir, you are receiving a call," JARVIS spoke up again. "It is Miss. Romanoff on the line for you."

Tony responded, "Put her and Steve up on the screen, J."

Before Tony could say anymore, Bruce cut in saying, "Agent Romanoff, Steve, it's good to hear from you. We were actually just about to call you. It looks like this time you beat us to it. How are things going on your end?"

"_Not so good, Doctor,_" Natasha answered sadly as the teammates could hear the fear in her voice as she spoke. "_We managed to find, Clint, but… well, he's sick. We don't really know why except for that he was definitely tortured by the men that captured him, but there's more than that._"

"What do you mean, there's more?" Bruce asked. "Is he doing all right?"

Steve came on as he continued, "_It's obvious that he's been pushing himself far beyond his limits to do whatever it is he's been doing. He's exhausted and ill. However, he's also not himself._"

Natasha replied, "_He's acting cold and distant, but it isn't because he was upset we came after him, it's because… we had to knock him out in order to bring him back to the Quinjet with us. We'll explain the rest when we get back. Look, you need to…_"

"We need to what?" Tony asked as their communications were suddenly cut off. "Agent Romanoff, can you hear me? JARVIS, what's going on? Why were they cut off?"

"I'm not sure, but I am working it out," JARVIS responded. "Sir, it appears we have a major problem."

Tony rolled his eyes and answered, "We know that, JARVIS. That's why we're asking you to find out what's causing it."

It wasn't until minutes later, that the A.I. finally replied, "It appears the Quinjet carrying Agents Romanoff and Barton, as well as Captain Rogers, is about to crash over the Atlantic Ocean."


	7. Chapter 7

Live to Rise

Chapter Seven

Together, both Steve and Natasha slowly made their way back to the Quinjet with Clint's unconscious form draped around them. The fact that the movement over the rough terrain they walked across in order to make it back to the jet didn't wake him was a testament as to how bad off the archer really was. When they finally made it back, they carefully laid Clint down on floor of the plane and Natasha gently brushed her hand across his face, showing her deep concern for him, then made her way up to the cockpit where she sat down in the seat beside the agent Fury had selected to fly them to wherever they needed to go.

Steve remained in the back with his friend as he began to treat him the best that he could using the medical kit that was aboard the jet. The captain had little medical training back from his days in the war, but it wasn't nearly enough for whatever was going on with Agent Barton. He needed a doctor or better yet, he needed Bruce as they weren't sure who it was they could trust within S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore.

Nothing but silence filled the plane as they travelled toward home, until it was broken by Natasha, who made her way over to kneel down by her partner and Steve, but kept her eyes trained on Clint as she spoke up saying, "How are you doing, Cap?"

Steve looked over at her and saw the sadness in her face as he asked in return, "Don't you mean, how's he?"

"No, I know how my partner's doing," Natasha answered coldly. "I wanted to make sure you were doing all right. You may not know him that well, but I can see from your face that you're concerned for him and that you want him back as much as the rest of us do. So, how are you?"

"I'm not Dr. Banner," Steve replied. "There's not much I can do for him. You're right though, I do want him to be a part of our team as much as you. As far as I'm concerned, the six of us are the only people we can trust fully, including Fury. I know he has stood by us, even before any of the rest of us did, but who's to say that if a bigger threat than Loki comes out, that he won't lose faith in us and make the same mistake as the council did? What if he chooses to use those weapons S.H.I.E.L.D. was making before we arrived? He still has many secrets that I'm not exactly comfortable with."

Natasha responded, "I know what you mean, but I do trust him. He could have had me killed despite Clint's fight to keep me alive, but Fury didn't. He protected me against the council's objections and he is one of the reasons why I became an agent instead of continuing to work for the KGB. Speaking of which, we need to let him and the others know that we found Barton."

After a few seconds, Bruce came on saying, "_Agent Romanoff, Steve, it's good to hear from you. We were actually just about to call you. It looks like this time you beat us to it. How are things going on your end?_"

"Not so good, Doctor," she answered sadly. "We managed to find, Clint, but… well, he's sick. We don't really know why except for that he was definitely tortured by the men that captured him, but there's more than that."

"_What do you mean, there's more?_" Bruce asked. "_Is he doing all right?_"

Steve continued, "It's obvious that he's been pushing himself far beyond his limits to do whatever it is he's been doing. He's exhausted and ill. However, he's also not himself."

Natasha added, "He's acting cold and distant, but it isn't because he was upset we came after him, it's because… we had to knock him out in order to bring him back to the Quinjet with us. We'll explain the rest when we get back. Look, you need to…"

Natasha was cut off as the Quinjet suddenly shifted down hard causing both she and Steve to collapse and slide across its floor until they hit the back of the seats in the cockpit. They quickly looked up toward the pilot, who they could see was working on sabotaging the plane's controls and cutting the now exposed wires. The Quinjet was now beginning to lose altitude and it wouldn't be long before they crashed into the ocean far below them.

While Natasha moved in to try to level the plane off, Steve pulled the pilot away from the controls and began to fight with him as the captain shouted, "What on earth are you doing? Why?"

"Your so called friend over there killed my sister when he attacked the helicarrier!" the agent shouted back. "He deserves to die for all of the pain and destruction he caused. He's nothing but a murderer and you two are fighting to keep him alive so that he can continue on pretending to be a hero? It's a joke!"

"I can't keep this thing level much longer, Captain!" Natasha suddenly called out as she continued to try to keep the Quinjet up in the air. "We're going to crash unless…"

"Unless what?" Steve asked quickly as he punched the pilot hard in the face in order to knock him unconscious and then moved over to hold onto Clint as the plane shifted down once again. "Can't you fly this thing?"

Natasha replied, "I'm only a co-pilot, but the sabotage is too extensive. The only person that can fly this enough to save us is Clint. You have to wake him up!"

Steve looked down at his friend's pale and feverish face as he yelled back, "How am I supposed to do that? He's out cold."

"In the medical kit, there's a shot of adrenaline," Natasha responded fearfully. "You've got to stab him with it, right into his chest. I don't like it any more than you do, but we're all going to die if you don't. Now do it!"

Steve grabbed the syringe from the medical kit and then suddenly thrust the needle into his chest just as Natasha had said for him to do. Almost suddenly, Clint gasped as he awoke, feeling all of his pain as it came rushing back throughout his body, and looked up at the captain in confusion until Steve put his hand down over his chest comfortingly as he said, "I'm sorry, but the jet is about to crash. Our pilot sabotaged the controls, so we need you to do whatever you can do to get it flying again. You can do it."

Clint shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed in order to focus on what his friend had just said and then with Steve's help, he struggled to make his way over to where Natasha was sitting moments before. She moved to sit in the co-pilot seat, fully prepared to help him steer if he needed her to. Clint ignored the annoying sound of the alarms going off all around him as he focused on pulling back on the throttle until the plane straightened out a little more, but it wasn't enough as the left engine suddenly blew.

"Captain, I need… need you to pull back on the throttle… as hard as you can and try… to keep her steady," Clint fought to get out as a wave of dizziness swept through him. "I need to try to re-wire…"

"Are you all right?" Natasha quickly asked as she reached over with one hand to touch the side of his face.

Clint swallowed as he nodded and then began to work on the exposed wires and gears while he answered, "I'm fine. You need to do the same… with your control."

Natasha smiled as she and Steve did as he asked, although Steve had a little more difficulty since he had to reach his arms from around the back of the seat, while she spoke up again saying, "You really need to teach me how to fly before we go on our next mission together."

"If we live… live through this, I… I'm sorry, Nat," he replied as he continued until he suddenly reached up and pulled back hard on the throttle, while shouting out for Steve and Natasha to help him as he was quickly losing strength. "Pull back! Pull back!"

As they did so, the nose of the quinjet finally leveled out fully just as it suddenly crashed hard into the ocean, the force knocking everyone around as they all fell unconscious. It wasn't long before the icy water began to fill the plane's cabin, as the jet began to sink, but as the water first hit Steve, he awoke and quickly moved back toward the cockpit in order to help out his friends, despite feeling groggy and a sharp pain in his shoulder. He made it to Clint first, who had fallen out of his seat and to the floor, as he wasn't strapped in while trying to fix the controls. There was a large gash across his forehead as he had obviously smacked it hard against something in front of him on impact. Natasha was also still out, but she appeared to be fine as her seat buckle protected her against the force of the impact.

Steve looked around for a way out of the jet, but as the water continued breaking its way in, his options were becoming pretty bleak until he suddenly reached out for his shield, which he thankfully decided to bring with them, and threw it with as much force as he could muster toward the windshield, causing the glass to shatter enough for him to break it wide open. Natasha had awoken by then and together, the two of them managed to swim through, holding Clint once again in between them, until they finally broke free to the surface.

When they managed to regain control of their breathing, as the distance from where they swam from was deep below the water's surface, they swam over to a large part of the hull of the Quinjet that had broken off on impact and carefully lay Clint down on top, hoping that it was strong enough to keep him as much out of the water as possible, while both Steve and Natasha remained half way in the water as they held onto the sides of the wreckage.

Natasha reached up to touch Clint's neck in order to feel for a pulse, as it was impossible to tell if he was still alive since he was already so pale. His pulse was weak, but it was there. The archer remained unconscious and barely breathing, while Natasha lowered her hand down to grab a hold of his, which she continued to hold as they remained afloat.

After remaining silent for what felt like hours as the coldness of the water was draining what little strength they all had left, Natasha kept her eyes on Clint as she softly spoke up, "Thank you, St…Steve. You saved… saved us."

Steve only smiled until he looked away from his friends as he suddenly thought he heard the sounds of another plane flying above them from nearby. However, his consciousness was beginning to dim before he was able to locate where the sound was coming from and the last things he could make out before the cold finally claimed him completely was what he believed was Iron Man as he could hear him shouting out their names, followed by the sounds of lightning crackling through the sky.


	8. Chapter 8

Live to Rise

Chapter Eight

"What do you mean the jet is crashing?" Tony asked in frustration. "What the hell happened?"

"That is unknown at this time, Sir," JARVIS responded. "Shall I deploy your armor for you?"

Tony quickly replied, "J, I need you to connect me with Fury. Nick, can you hear me?"

Director Fury came on over the coms as he answered, "What's going on, Stark? Do you have something?"

"How far out are you guys from Romanoff and Rogers?" Tony asked.

"We're close, but I'd say you'd probably get there before us if you fly as recklessly as usual," the director responded. "Why do you ask?"

Tony ran over to where he stored his suit and began to boot it up as he replied, "It looks like they're about to crash over the ocean. We're on our way. Thor, go ahead of me. I'll catch up. Doctor, I suggest you take another route up to the helicarrier, so that you won't Hulk out on us. They'll probably need your help. We'll meet you up there."

Bruce nodded as Thor flew off, followed shortly by Tony after getting suited up, then he called out, "JARVIS, is there a chance you can call for a pilot to come and fly the helicopter parked up on the roof? I'll need him as soon as possible."

"I already did for you, Sir," the A.I. answered. "S.H.I.E.L.D. said that he'll be here in less than ten minutes."

"Thanks, I think," Dr. Banner said curtly.

Just as he had said, Tony had easily caught up with the god and then flew past him as he was in a hurry to reach his friends in time, not knowing whether or not they were all still in the air, or if they had already crashed and were dead. He hoped it was the previous, but the nervous pit in his stomach told him that the Quinjet had already hit the water. It wasn't until just over twenty minutes had passed that his fear had been confirmed as he and Thor saw the jet's wreckage. Then, they found them, Agent Barton lying on top of what looked like a part of the hull and both Steve and Natasha barely hanging onto the metal, half their bodies still under water. Tony quickly called out their names, but when none one of them answered him he knew they were all at best unconscious.

As Tony finally reached their friends, he could see that Clint was by far the worst off and so he carefully pulled Natasha's hand off of his and gently lifted the archer into his arms, while Thor arrived and pulled up both Steve and Natasha into one arm and continued to swing his hammer as they all flew off toward the helicarrier, which had arrived just a couple of minutes later.

As soon as they landed at the carrier's entrance, Tony shouted out, "We need medics down here, now!"

Several men and women wearing white coats came running over to them as Iron Man called out to them, pulling along three gurneys behind them. All three patients were carefully taken care of as they took over for Tony and Thor, who stared after them as they were wheeled away toward the medical bay.

Fury and Agent Hill walked over to them as they were about to follow after them, as Tony lifted his helmet from off his head and spoke up saying, "JARVIS didn't detect any enemy ships, or jets, in the area at the time of the crash that could have shot their plane down and I've looked over the schematics of the Quinjets once or twice. Unless you know what you're doing, it's really difficult to get them to go down from the inside. Your pilot wasn't with them, Nick, which means he's now at the bottom of the ocean along with the rest of the plane that didn't break off. My gut tells me that your pilot wasn't as trustworthy as you seem to think he was."

Fury glared at Tony through his good eye as he asked, "Are you accusing my man of sabotaging their jet, Stark?"

"I think you know that I am," the billionaire responded. "What other explanation is there?"

"We'll have to wait until they wake up to know for sure, but I have a feeling Stark's right, Sir," Maria replied as she looked over at her boss. "You know I don't agree with him on much, but in case you don't remember, any one of the men and woman working for S.H.I.E.L.D. can be on the council's payroll. We can't just rule out the possibility because Stark said it."

Fury nodded his head and then looked over at Tony as he answered, "I have a feeling you're right as well. While we're waiting for them to come around, Agent Hill, I want you to overlook the search for anything useful we can salvage from the wreckage, including Rogers' shield. He's going to want that back, seeing as we've got nothing like it today.

Maria turned to walk away as she responded, "Yes, Sir."

"Excellent work out there, Tony, Thor," Fury continued. "If you hadn't have gotten to them as fast as you did, they would have all been dead for sure. Let's just hope they all recover."

"Agent Barton looked to be bad off, more so than the others," Thor replied. "And Miss. Romanoff did say he was unwell before we lost contact with them."

The director looked between the two members of his team as he asked, "What else did you find out from them?"

Tony answered, "That's it really. They said that he had been tortured by the men that had captured him before and Steve mentioned that he was exhausted and ill after pushing himself too hard. That he wasn't acting like himself, which is really the only way I know him, so I wouldn't know if that part was true."

"Miss. Romanoff had to knock our friend unconscious in order to get him back to their jet," Thor added. "Apparently, Barton was acting hog-headed."

"That's pigheaded, Thor," Tony corrected him. "The term is pigheaded, but you've got the right idea. We're going to go oversee their progress; to make sure that your medical staff are on the up and up while we wait for Dr. Banner to arrive, which should be very soon. Thanks for leaving your helicopter on my roof by the way. We figured that it was the best way for him to travel, as it would have been bad if the Hulk took over."

Fury called out to Tony as he asked, "And how do you know that the good doctor hasn't gotten angry on his way here?"

"Because we would have heard about it by now," the eccentric billionaire called back. "Besides, he's finally got flying under control."


	9. Chapter 9

Live to Rise

Chapter Nine

Some time later, Natasha finally opened her eyes and then slowly began to push herself up until Steve reached out and gently pushed her back down against the bed. She closed her eyes as her vision began to swim and then groggily looked over to find the captain now standing over her with a sad smile on his face. At that moment, the only thing she could do was give him a soft smile back.

Steve spoke up first as he quietly said, "You're going to be all right, Ma'am. You just need to take it easy for a while. How do you feel, truthfully?"

Natasha looked around as she replied, "Cold and tired."

"That's what nearly freezing to death does to you," Steve responded and then chuckled. "Believe me, I know. I've been through it twice now. I just don't exactly remember the first time around; a flash maybe here and there."

"Do you know…? Clint!" she cried out suddenly as she bolted up once again in fear of not knowing what had happened to her partner. "Is he…?"

Steve kept his hands on her shoulders and tried to keep her calm as he answered, "He's still alive, on the bed right behind me. Dr. Banner says he's still fighting despite whatever the hell he's been through lately."

Once she was finally calmed down, Steve let her go as Natasha got up from the bed and slowly walked over to stand beside Clint's. She looked over his body, his chest and wrists, being covered in bandages to help cover whatever wounds he had sustained, his right arm in a sling as she noticed that his shoulder had been badly dislocated and reset, and a bandage over a gash across his forehead, then reached down to take his free hand in hers, and finally looked down at his closed eyes, as he remained unconscious. Several heating pads covered the top of him, while the lower half of his body was covered up by several blankets in order to help raise back up his body temperature and a tube ran along under his nose, as well as were two tubes sticking out from the crook of his left arm in order to pump in the medication needed to help him heal.

While Natasha continued to look down at her partner, Steve remained silent as he watched them both and it was then that Bruce, Tony, and Thor slowly walked in, not really sure what to say out of fear of upsetting her even more than she already was. To their surprise, she was the first one to speak up as she looked up to stare into Bruce's eyes with a fierceness in her own.

She said, "Steve said that you told him Clint's going to be all right. Is this true?"

"I believe so," Bruce replied. "It'll be a slow recovery, but he was already in bad shape before you all crashed into the ocean. The freezing water increased his fever drastically, but I've got the proper medication running through him and each of his wounds he sustained are being well treated. The tube under his nose is only to help him to breathe better than what he was earlier. When he can do it more on his own, I'll remove it."

"Do you have any idea what caused his fever in the first place, Doc?" Natasha asked again.

Bruce nodded, then gently pulled Clint's head down to his left side in order to show his friends the needle puncture in his neck and responded, "I noticed a trace of some kind of toxin in his system and at first I thought he had been poisoned again, but after taking a closer look, I discovered that it was something else entirely, something that wasn't meant to kill, but to inflict a high amount of pain. I just wasn't sure what it was until I found these needles hidden in one of Barton's vest's pockets."

Natasha pulled the box containing the needles from Bruce's hand and looked down at them as she interrupted, "Japanese needles of fire."

"Say what now?" Tony asked as he reached out to pick one of them up until Natasha slapped his hand away. "Ow!"

"You don't want to touch them unless you pick them up by the small handle at the end," she continued. "There's a powdery substance coating them that causes an intense burning sensation throughout your entire body if injected with one. It will make you feel like your literally burning from the inside out. A second or third needle will continue to increase the pain levels."

Thor asked, "And people of this world use these needles of fire to gain information from their prisoners? This is barbaric."

Natasha answered, "No, they are very rarely used. Only by those, who as you call barbaric, since they are a very highly effective form of torture. Whatever information Clint's captors wanted, they wanted it bad. Needless to say, they didn't get it."

"How do you figure that?" Tony asked.

"Because I know Clint," Natasha replied firmly. "And because he escaped from them before he found us back in Kiev."

Tony nodded and then responded, "Good point. Okay, next question's for you, Cap? Exactly what did happen out there? It's good to see the two of you awake by the way."

Steve looked over at Natasha and then back between the rest of his teammates and answered, "The pilot sabotaged the Quinjet while Natasha and I were helping Agent Barton. We didn't notice him doing it until it was too late and the plane was already beginning to go down. I knocked the man out as Miss. Romanoff went back to the cockpit in order to try to get it level again, but there was nothing she could do."

"I never learned how to fly one of those things," Natasha continued. "But Clint can and so I told the captain to inject adrenaline into him in order to wake him up, since I had to knock him out earlier. Clint kept the nose up and the Quinjet together as we crashed. The three of us are alive thanks to him and Steve as well, since he broke us free of the wreckage before we all went down with it and swam us up to the surface. The pilot wasn't so lucky."

"For which neither of you will be held accountable for," Fury replied as he walked into the room in order to check on those he considered to be his friends, even if they weren't so sure about him. "How's everyone doing, Captain, Agent Romanoff?"

As Steve and the others stepped in front of Clint's bed protectively out of instinct, while Natasha remained where she was, still holding her partner's hand, Steve responded, "We're fine, Director. Agent Barton will be."

Fury grinned, then answered, "That's good to hear. I figured as much, but I wanted to come and see for myself. In case any of you were wondering, we're now on our way back to New York. I haven't informed the council at all about the crash, nor that we have found our wayward Avenger. However, I have a feeling that it won't be long until they find out for themselves, as the men you three left alive back in Kiev reported to them that Barton was now traveling with you again. Once we get into the city, take one of the jets back to your tower, where you'll be able to protect Barton much easier than you would here. At least we know he's safe. Now all we have to do is prove that the council is responsible for this whole mess so that we can free him of all charges. Do any of you have any ideas on how to do that yet?"

"We've been a little busy recently," Tony replied briskly. "Sorry, it's just that it's been a long couple of days and so far, we've got nothing. Whoever these councilmen are, they've got a lot of power and more secrets than even you. They just know how to hide them much better than you."

"Seeing as you were able to trench through and dig up some of mine, I think you'll get there eventually," Fury responded. "You said it yourself, anything hidden can be found. You just have to know where to look."

Tony grinned and hugged the director playfully, then stated, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were actually starting to respect me, Nick."

Fury pushed the billionaire off of him and then answered, "Don't try to read in between the lines, Stark. I assure you there's nothing there. Don't mistake respect for what's really just my acknowledgement of your abilities."


	10. Chapter 10

Live to Rise

Chapter Ten

After the group had finished their discussion, most of them left the medical bay, all except for Natasha, who sat down in a chair at Clint's bedside while continuing to hold his hand in her own. She was still weary from their near death experience and she could feel a sleep creeping in. She rarely had a problem with facing death in the moment, as she's done it so many times before, but when the dust clears and time settles in, the realization of what she's faced finally sinks in and it is terrifying. No one knows this about her except for Clint because he's exactly like her. As she stared down at his still form, she finally allowed herself to think about the things she fought hard to ignore for so long, knowing they were things that she shouldn't be thinking about at all.

The two master assassins shared a special bond and almost seemed to know what the other's thinking or feeling without having to utter a word. Most people would say that it's love and in truth, Clint had already made it known to her, as well as to the others, that he was in fact in love with her, but love was nothing but a stranger to Natasha. All her life she had been trained to kill, void of all feelings, especially love, since it can be a person's greatest weakness. Love is for children was something her father had taught her from a very early age and yet somehow, she could never be totally what she was expected to be. The evidence of that was lying down on the bed before her. Was it love she felt for her partner? She didn't really know despite what the others always said about them, but she did feel something deep for the man come to be known as Hawkeye. He had saved her life when he should have taken it. Instead, the archer saw in her what she never could and that was more than enough proof that she could trust him beyond the shadow of a doubt.

As the hours passed by with her deep in her thoughts, she eventually fell asleep. However, she was woken up suddenly as she felt a chill course through her, knowing that something wasn't right. When she looked down at the bed beside her, she discovered that it was empty and her partner was nowhere in sight. Natasha ran from the room and passed by several men and woman through the helicarrier's corridors, all of whom only stared after her as she ran past, but after a few minutes, she suddenly stopped and realized that of all the places Clint would go to aboard this carrier, it would be to where he could find the highest view overlooking whatever was outside; the upper deck.

When she finally found him, Clint was standing near the edge of the runway, staring out over the view of the city as they had finally made it back to where she was beginning to call home. He was still only wearing the sweatpants he had been dressed down into when he was being treated by the ship's doctors. The moonlight made it possible for her to see every visible scar across his bare back where it wasn't covered up by the numerous bandages across his body and she noticed that he had removed the sling wrapped over his arm and was currently flexing it around to try to regain its feeling.

Natasha slowly stepped up to stand beside him and gently spoke up saying, "Not planning on jumping, are you?"

Ignoring the playfulness in her voice, Clint softly answered, "You know I've never been one to think much about suicide as a way to end whatever all this is."

"Not in the logical sense, no, but you still seem to be doing a pretty good job trying to convince me otherwise," she replied sadly. "I want to know…"

"Don't, Natasha," Clint responded almost forcefully as he continued to stare out ahead, refusing to look over at her. "Please, just don't."

She crossed her arms over her chest as she could feel the cold night air against her body and then asked, "Don't what, Clint? Don't try to beg you to tell me what is bothering you so badly that we found you like this? Don't tell you how worried I am about you? Don't try to stop you from leaving as soon as we leave this carrier to go back to the tower? I want to know what's going on with you. I get why you finally left before after we dealt with your brother. You needed some time to figure out who you are, but it's been six months and we end up having to go out to search for you, only to find you half dead."

Clint lowered his head and then finally turned to look at her as he answered, "You never should have come after me, Nat. I know that you and the others only want to help as I'm in another bind with the council, but it isn't just my life on the line now. It's yours too, as well as the rest of the Avengers. You can't take that risk. The world needs you, all of you."

"Whether you like it or not, you're one of us too, Clint," Natasha replied solemnly.

"Not if my actions are what cause the team to fall apart," he responded as he turned and slowly began to walk away from her until a wave of dizziness washed over him and he nearly collapsed. "I'm not worth putting the Earth and its people in jeopardy again."

She quickly reached out and caught him, then gently pulled him around to face her once he regained his balance, as she firmly said, "You did not kill the councilman, just as you did not kill all of those people while under Loki's power, nor were you responsible for Tony nearly getting killed because of your brother and what happened to him all those years ago. Stop putting the weight of the world on your shoulders and let us help you get through this. We will find whoever framed you and crush them just like we do on every other mission we've faced."

Clint asked, "How?"

"Well, I think we've got a lot going for us, as we all have our very own special skill sets," Tony, who was now wearing his armor, answered as he, Steve, Thor, and Bruce all walked outside on the deck after searching for the two assassins. "If you ask me, people, or aliens, are crazy to go up against us after hearing all about what we were able to accomplish together."

"We're better as a team then we are alone," Steve added. "Like Miss. Romanoff said, we want to help you so that you don't have to feel alone any longer. Despite the fact that your job requires it a lot of the time, I can tell that it isn't how you want to live for the rest of your life. Take it from someone who knows how it feels. I never thought I'd get used to being here, away from everything I once knew, but this team changed everything."

Clint looked down and then back out toward the city as he said softly, "It's going to take time. I can't just shut off how I feel about what I've done. No matter what you say about me, or how often you say it, to me, all of this was all still caused by my hands. Even now with what's going on with the death of the council member. Someone within S.H.I.E.L.D. is angry with me enough because of what I did under Loki's mind control. Right or wrong, it still has to do with me."

Bruce spoke up saying, "Actually, we've got a different theory. There are people within S.H.I.E.L.D. helping to set you up and wanting to kill you, but we believe that the council are the ones responsible for all of this."

"You think they killed one of their own just to get rid of me?" Clint asked.

"We don't think it is all just about you, as we think that they're hoping we'll help you and go far enough, so that they will have an excuse to disband the Avengers for good and get rid of Fury too," Tony replied. "You're just the lucky one, who gets to be their scapegoat."

Thor continued, "Either they succeed by your death coming to pass and we split apart ourselves, out of anger and our thirst for revenge, or they succeed by unlawfully charging the Avengers for fighting to protect a friend."

Bruce nodded as he responded, "Thor's exactly right. These men and women on the council have a lot of power and people to back them up, but you no longer have to be alone, as Steve said, Clint."

"We would be honored to stand by your side as we fight against their injustice, friend Barton," Thor added. "Will you stand with us once again?"

"The honor's mine," Clint answered as he reached out to shake the god's hand, followed by Steve, Bruce, and then Tony, who all gladly shook his hand back in return. "We'll see about the rest when this is all over."

Tony placed his helmet over his head and suddenly flew up into the sky as he turned back to his friends and said, "Good, now let's go home. I'm tired of being cooped up with any number of people that might try to kill one of us at any time. Dr. Banner can take much better care of our boy there, than aboard this godforsaken vessel anyway."

Thor followed using his hammer to fly and after doing so, the rest of the teammates walked over toward the helicopter Bruce had come in, which Steve had actually figured out how to fly within the six months Clint had been gone, as it wasn't nearly as complicated or complex as a Quinjet, and together they headed back to the Avengers Tower behind the god and billionaire.

While they were in the air, Natasha finally spoke up again as she asked, "So, if you don't mind my asking, what were you thinking when you purposely decided to get yourself kidnapped by whoever it was in Kiev?"

Clint looked over at her as he replied, "That's something I'd rather not share; at least not for now. Just know that it was necessary and is now taken care of."

Natasha nodded and responded, "I trust you."


	11. Chapter 11

Live to Rise

Chapter Eleven

Down in the slums of Harlem…

Meanwhile, in the middle of the night that the Avengers returned back home, several members of a street gang was smoking and drinking outside of an old, boarded up building that had used to be a night club until, rumor was, most of the area had been trashed during a large fight between two huge and grotesque monsters years ago. All that was known of the incident was from what was spoken about by the witnesses that had been there. The reports from the newscasters had all been squashed by the military. After everything, the club was never reopened and this gang moved in, making it their new headquarters.

Like most nights, the young men and women within the gang watched the comings and goings of the people out and about in those hours, who were a lot of the homeless, but it wasn't until tonight that they watched armed men dressed in black, unknown military gear of some kind, their faces covered by masks. They looked more like mercenaries than anything, which wasn't really as strange among these streets as one might expect.

The mercenaries ignored them as they worked to unload several crates and boxes from a truck and moved them into a large warehouse across the street. After an hour, the gang members noticed another figure pull up in a second truck. This man was different than the others, as he wasn't wearing the same garb, but a long, black, hooded cape which covered his face and most of his body. The rest of him was covered in what looked like a very thin metal or armor and tall, dark, leather boots.

Instead of helping the others, the newcomer only stood back and overlooked their progress until he suddenly turned to face the gang, who still could not see his face as the hood kept it covered up, and then slowly began to walk over to them. As he did, the thugs tensed up and a few of them pulled back their jackets to reveal weapons hidden among their clothing. The stranger just continued walking forward un-intimidated.

When he finally stopped, he bent down to pick up a bottle of beer with his left hand and began to drink it, then smashed what was left on the ground and crossed his arms as he spoke up saying, "You know it isn't nice to spy, nor is it nice to threaten someone when you don't know who you're dealing with."

One of the thugs pulled out a gun from the back of his pants and pointed it at the caped man as he responded, "I don't need to know who you are to know that I don't like you. I suggest you and your buddies clear out unless you want a bullet through your skull. No police around here to stop us and they won't make a move against us. We're not afraid of you."

"You will be," the man replied in a menacing tone as a long, curved blade suddenly appeared like a switch blade, which everyone in the gang could now see was in place of his right hand as he slashed the blade across their leader's chest, easily slicing through him as if he were butter, cutting him in half. "I warned you it wasn't nice to threaten me."

Each of the rest of the gang members, including those who were inside the old club before until they heard the commotion, made moves to attack the dangerous stranger. However, he easily was able to cut them down, brutally and without any kind of remorse, as their blood splattered all over the streets and throughout the room as he moved inside to kill the rest of the men and woman that did not make a move to strike him down. When he thought was finished, he heard the faint sound of one of the thugs still alive, moaning as he lay on the floor with a large, deep wound across his stomach.

"Who, what are you?" the wounded man asked as his attacker loomed over him with a grin on his face, as his hood was no longer covering his head.

The murderer struck his blade deep into his chest as he answered, "I'm known as the Grim Reaper."

As he finished his task, two of the Reaper's men walked up from behind him as one of them said, "We're finished unloading everything. What would you like us to do now?"

"Clean up their remains and burn them, then clean up what is left of this filthy building," the Reaper responded. "It will be a nice addition to help our business here in the city. When you're done, move on to the next stage. We've got a lot of work to do while we're here and our leader is counting on us to rescue him from the prison S.H.I.E.L.D. calls the Vault."

"Hail, HYDRA!" his man replied in acknowledgement, then the Reaper turned and walked out as he retracted his blade back into the metal covering that was in place of his right hand.

Meanwhile…

Across the city, deep within a large, stone tower that was owned by S.H.I.E.L.D., an old man sat in silence inside a prison cell. The agents believed their prison to be impenetrable, mainly because no one has yet to be able to break in to attempt to break one of its prisoners out. The tower was too well guarded and protected by powerful technology not known to anyone except for the agency. It was also surrounded completely by water except for the long bridge leading from the structure to the land.

The man inside the cell had been there for several years after Nick Fury and his agents had captured and arrested him for continuing on HYDRA, a criminal organization created to try to dominate the world through espionage and terrorist activities that ended up resulting in a fascist New World Order back during the days of World War II after Captain America had taken down Johann Schmidt, also known as Red Skull. However, the man known as Baron Strucker never got very far in reorganizing before Fury had found him and brought him down as well. The arrest was what set Fury on top to become S.H.I.E.L.D.'s director. Over the years, Strucker has sat inside his prison waiting for the day his loyal followers would finally come to break him free, knowing that his time was coming and that soon he would be able to finish what he had started after he killed the man who had first put him there.


	12. Chapter 12

Live to Rise

Chapter Twelve

After the Avengers had arrived back at the tower, Bruce and Natasha finally finished re-bandaging Clint's wounds. Despite the archer's protests, the two eventually managed to convince him to lie down and try to get some sleep for the rest of the night so that the newest medication Bruce gave him could begin to do its job.

Clint wasn't really in the talking mood, so after the rest of the group finished explaining to him what was left of their theory, they left the room to give him and Natasha some privacy and went to bed. Once he finally fell asleep, she went to lie down in her own quarters, the next room over. However, Bruce didn't join the rest of them. Instead, he stayed up in the main room to look over the notes he had made from the last time he treated Clint six months ago, while comparing them to the ones he was working to write up now in order to give them to S.H.I.E.L.D.

As he did so, the doctor noticed that there was something unusual or complex about the man he hardly knew, but wanted to get to know if only he would just let the rest of the team in. Clint showed signs of a man that didn't care whether he lived or died as long as he died protecting those that he cared about. He was practically suicidal on his missions, the scars Bruce found across the archer's body showed that, but at the same time, Clint always survived. Bruce realized that Clint was stuck deep inside his own personal war. His subconscious mind was determined to fight for his survival, but his heart was on the brink of giving everything up and if Natasha and Steve hadn't found him when they had, his heart would have won out fairly soon.

It was then that JARVIS spoke up saying, "Forgive my interruption, Dr. Banner, but you asked me to inform you if I sensed there was anything wrong with Agent Barton."

Bruce stood up from his chair and began to move toward Clint's room once again as he asked, "What is it, JARVIS?"

"He is no longer in his room, but appears to be sleep walking through the halls, as if in some sort of trance," the A.I. replied. "Shall I wake the others, including Miss. Romanoff?"

"No, I think I should probably handle this myself," Bruce answered as he quickened his pace. "I've seen this kind of thing before in patients who have been through something traumatic."

JARVIS spoke up again as he said, "Agent Barton doesn't seem to be your typical patient."

Bruce responded, "No, he does not."

By the time the doctor finally found him, thanks to help from Stark's A.I., he had made it up to the roof, which made sense since it was the most familiar place to the archer as he spent more time there than any place else. When Dr. Banner arrived, Clint's back was to him and Bruce slowly began to move toward him, afraid to frighten the man as he was approaching the ledge.

"Agent… Clint, can you hear me?" the doctor called out softly. "It's me, Bruce. I want to help you, but I need you to wake up. You're safe. Loki is no longer here to take over your mind. You're in control, not him. Just fight…"

All of a sudden, Clint turned around in a frightening speed just as a knife flew past Bruce's head and buried itself into the door directly behind him. Bruce stared briefly at the knife in surprise and relief, and then turned back to the archer as Clint was shaking his head and the doctor could see that he was finally coming around.

"Doc?" Clint spoke softly as he looked at Bruce in shock of what he had just done. "I didn't… I couldn't… I'm sorry."

Bruce quickly replied, "It's okay. It wasn't your fault. Are you back with me?"

Clint nodded as he answered, "I'm fine."

"Actually, you're not," Bruce responded. "Far from it actually, which is why I'm surprised that you've been functioning as well as you have been while you're awake. What we're you seeing when you threw that knife at me?"

"No offense, Doctor, but you're not a shrink and you really don't want to know what's going on in my head," Clint replied as he started to move past Bruce in order to leave the roof. "Thank you, for waking me up. I told you I shouldn't have allowed myself to fall asleep."

Bruce put his arm out to block him and answered, "You should have told me that this was going on. If I had known, I could have given you something to keep the dreams at bay. You need sleep. How long do you actually think you can keep on going like this?"

Clint responded, "I've been doing fine so far. The dreams aren't usually this bad. I'll be all right."

"Not if you don't talk to someone," Bruce replied almost forcefully. "Look, I get that you don't want to talk with Natasha because she's your partner and she's also the woman you're in love with, but if not her, then why not talk to me. I know a thing or two about what you're going through. If there's any part of you that believes you deserve to live, then let me help you, as your friend."

"Do you remember the things you do when you become the Hulk?" Clint asked as he finally turned around to look at Dr. Banner. "I mean, do you remember the things you did before you came to accept him?"

Bruce turned around and together they walked back down toward the main room once again as he answered, "No, I can't, but when I would find out afterwards, from the people that were around, I was just as upset with myself as you are. I even tried to kill myself, although a little less subtlety as you. When that didn't work, I found ways to get help and I immersed myself with trying to save as many lives as I could. Though I don't always agree with how S.H.I.E.L.D. works, working with the Avengers is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Something tells me, it can be that for you too if you let us in."

As they made it back to the main room Clint took a seat on the couch and responded, "Loki isn't all I see when I close my eyes. I remember everything. I can remember taking a shot at Fury, telling Loki to kill man for his eyeball, hitting the button to blow a hole through the helicarrier. I've watched the security footage from the attacks, despite Stark's objections. I see Coulson and the others dying, just as I see myself killing Natasha. I know what I've done and I know the terrible things Loki said to Natasha concerning me. I was lucky that she's stronger than I am at hand to hand. For a while, I had my nightmares under control, but they haven't been this bad since the beginning, at least not until several weeks ago. I discovered someone from Natasha's past was looking for her and had plans to kill her, just as he killed her father. I set myself up to be captured by his men just so that I could be taken to their boss so that I could kill him, before he could find her. The threat against her only increased the nightmares and sleepless nights."

"You were brave to stand up against the men who threatened Agent Romanoff, but also very lucky to have escaped," Bruce replied firmly. "Stunts like that are exactly the reasons why we're all concerned, as you could have gotten yourself killed, but we wouldn't be if you would allow us to help you through this. Do you think Natasha would seriously stay if she found out that you had died before we found you?"

Clint answered angrily as he stood up from the couch, "I can't just forget the things I've done and pretend like it didn't happen, whether..."

Bruce interrupted, "Fury told us that he is still alive thanks to you. Instead of taking a head shot like you should have, you shot him in the chest knowing he was wearing his kevlar. The same goes with your fight with Natasha. I believe, we all believe, you held back so that she could save you. You fought against Loki's power the best you could. As for the rest, you were not in control. Loki and his dark magic were."

"Is everything all right?" Natasha asked as she walked into the room just then. "You should be sleeping, Clint."

"I think the two of you need to have a talk," Bruce said as he stood up from his chair to leave. "Tell her everything, Agent Barton. She has a right to know and if there's anyone who can convince you that you're not to blame, it's her; trust her. When you're finally ready to try to get some actual sleep, come and see me in my room. I can give you something to help, as I said I would."

Once Dr. Banner left, Natasha slowly took a seat beside him on the couch and gently put her hand over the dark bruise across his cheek bone as she asked again, "What's Bruce talking about? You had another nightmare tonight, didn't you; a bad one?"

Clint responded, "There's more to it than that. I guess now's the time for me to explain why I did the things I did recently after all. If I don't, I don't think I'm going to make it and I can't risk you losing yourself because of me."


	13. Chapter 13

Live to Rise

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning, Natasha slowly walked into the main room, only to find that the rest of the team, except for both Clint and Bruce, was already up and eating, while they continued their work from before. As she entered, Steve, Thor, and even Tony stopped talking and remained quiet as they watched her sit down in front of the main computer and began to type angrily, while ignoring her friends.

Tony finally broke the silence, as he couldn't take it anymore, saying, "Morning, Agent Romanoff. I'd say good morning, but from your icy exterior and angry typing there, I'm guessing that it's already not going so well. Where's your trusty sidekick? You know I'm just going to keep talking until you…"

Natasha finally interrupted angrily, "Stark! For once would you please just shut up! I'm not in the mood for you right now."

"If you don't mind me asking, what's exactly seems to be the trouble, Ma'am?" Steve asked sincerely.

"It's personal," she answered in frustration. "It's isn't for me to say."

Not caring about her want for him to stay quiet, Tony responded to no one in particular, "I'm guessing our Black Widow and Cupid got into some kind of fight last night. Which one of you won if you don't mind my asking?"

Steve spoke up again as he said, "Tony, I don't think that's any of your business. Are you ever going to learn to butt out?"

"No, I'm afraid it's just not in my nature," the billionaire replied cockily. "I can't exactly help it."

"How is Agent Barton doing now?" Thor asked. "Do you suppose he is better this morning?"

Natasha stopped typing as she put her head down and answered, "He's sleeping now, but I have a feeling it won't be for very long. His nightmares have only gotten worse, partially because of his own doing."

Steve responded, "I don't understand. What made you suddenly start to blame him for all this? I would think that you of all people would defend him."

"That's not what I mean," Natasha replied. "I would fight to the death to defend him if need be. It's just that we had a talk last night so that he could finally explain to me what's been going on with him. He nearly got himself killed trying to protect me. He should have contacted me to tell me."

"Why, so that you could have walked into the trap and gotten yourself killed instead?" Tony asked. "Cause that certainly would have worked out well for you. Clint made it out alive and ended up saving both yours and Cap's butts if I recall. Be grateful it all worked out in the end."

Thor added, "I am afraid the end has yet to come. We still have not figured out how to prove his innocence."

JARVIS spoke up saying, "I may have something that could help Agent Barton, but I am afraid that it doesn't prove anything. It could just be a coincidence and..."

"Just spit it out, JARVIS," Tony interrupted. "We don't have all day."

"Sorry Sir," the A.I. answered. "You were just sent an email saying that the council member who was killed had a meeting set up with an unknown group, in Bonn, Germany. However, at last minute his plans were changed for him, telling him to meet the group in Prague, at the same time Agent Barton was there."

Tony quickly asked, "Who sent me that email?"

JARVIS responded, "I am afraid that also is unknown. I cannot trace its origins."

"Whoever it was that sent it, really didn't want us to know who they were," Natasha replied. "JARVIS, you need to dig deeper. It sounds like someone is wanting to reach out to us, but is too afraid, either of the council, or possibly even of us and what we'll do to them. They must have the information we need to help Clint, which means we have to find them."

"I will do the best I can, Miss. Romanoff," the A.I. answered.

Tony responded, "Well, excellent. And now that we've got all that out of the way, what is there left to do besides wait?"

Natasha stood up from her seat at the table as she finished searching for whatever it was she had walked in to get and replied, "I have a few things I need to take care of, in order to make sure that we don't gain another problem on our hands. I'll be back shortly. Call me if you learn of anything."

"Where do you suppose she's going?" Tony asked after she walked out.

"Do you really have to know?" Steve asked mockingly. "Never mind, of course you do."

Thor smiled and then answered, "Wherever it is she is going, it is to help her partner. I recognize the look of determination in her eyes, a look she only shows when concerning Agent Barton."

JARVIS spoke up again saying, "Sir, Director Fury and Agent Hill are on the line for you."

"Wonderful," Tony responded miserably. "Put them on, J."

"_Stark, we've got ourselves a new problem, which we could use your help to resolve,_" Fury replied.

Tony looked between his friends as he answered, "I'm afraid we're a bit busy right now, Nick. It's not like we're trying to save a friend's life or anything."

The director responded, "_I'm afraid this can't wait. An old adversary for S.H.I.E.L.D. has shown back up and he's powerful._"

"No offense, but if he's an old adversary, doesn't that mean you were able to defeat him before, without our help?" Steve asked in confusion. "We've already got a lot to deal with right now, Director."

"_Things have changed since we saw him last and if you don't stop him, then we will have two villains to deal with, one of whom can gain power as strong as Loki's,_" Fury replied firmly. "_We'll explain more later, but first you must stop this guy, who calls himself the Grim Reaper._"

Tony spoke up again as he said, "So much for good morning. Grim Reaper, how cliché."


	14. Chapter 14

Live to Rise

Chapter Fourteen

Four guards stood outside guarding the Vault's entrance and several around the perimeter, then there were a couple dozen more men and woman on the inside, working to guard and protect the criminals within the prison cells. Each cell was reinforced by a force field instead of a cage door, as many of the individuals within them were not the typical prisoners one would find in a regular prison. Some of them had mutant abilities, like members of the newly formed Serpent Society, and then there were others, who were incredibly skilled, too skilled to remain where they could break out any time they wanted. It was also equipped with technology that made it possible to keep those with powers dormant so that could not cause any harm.

The area surrounding the Vault was quiet and had been since it was first built by S.H.I.E.L.D. years ago. However, today a horseman appeared at the end of the bridge and slowly began to move forward as the guards began to tense up at the man's approach. Then, he finally stopped as one of the guards shouted out for him to halt and pulled up their weapons, arming them directly at the stranger, whom they could now see was covered in a long, black, hooded cloak.

As he stopped, the same guard moved ahead of the rest of the men and began to speak saying, "Who are you and what are your intentions here? Unless you're a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., you are not getting past us."

The horseman dismounted and then responded as a long blade suddenly appeared from underneath his cloak, "I'm afraid you're wrong about that, says the Grim Reaper."

"Fire!" the guard shouted as he and the rest of the men on the outside began to shoot toward the armed man, who was amazingly able to block each bullet by swinging his blade around like a wheel at an alarming speed.

As he did so, he rushed the four guards on the ground and cut them down like a butcher, when all of a sudden lasers shot at the rest of the guards surrounding the tower, who were all still focused on the Reaper, from across the bridge, the lasers knocking them all down and unconscious.

When his large group of heavily armed mercenaries, fully devoted to him and their leader, walked across the bridge toward him, the Grim Reaper stood straight and looked around at the carnage he had just caused to admire his work, then said, "Each of you know what to do. We are only here to free Baron Strucker. Let the rest of the prisoners be unless we are over run by S.H.I.E.L.D. Take out as many of the guards as possible, then leave as soon as possible. Am I understood?"

"Yes Sir," one of the men answered as he grinned.

"Good," the Reaper replied. "Today, our leader will be free and we can continue on to build up HYDRA as planned."

At Avengers Tower…

After Clint had woken once again, he slowly got up and moved to get dressed, knowing that sleep wouldn't be coming back to him as he looked at the clock on the nightstand beside the bed he had slept in and saw that it was past nine o'clock, at least not until night fell again. The archer made his way out into the main room, where he found Bruce pacing back and forth near the table. He knew the look on his face meant something bad was going on.

"What's happening, Doctor Banner?" Clint asked as he walked over to stand in front of him. "Where are the others?"

Bruce looked at him, unsure if he should answer until he knew that lying wasn't going to do him any good, and then finally responded, "They're all out doing something for S.H.I.E.L.D., somewhere around here, except for Natasha. She had some personal business to attend to."

Clint spoke again saying, "You're looking worried, Doc. What's going on?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about," Bruce answered. "It's nothing they can't handle."

"You're just saying that to try to keep me from going out there," Clint responded as he headed back toward his room to get into his suit and collect his gear, while Bruce followed behind him. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

Bruce tried to convince him not to go as he replied, "Clint, you're not well enough or rested enough to go out there against an enemy like this. He's not your average criminal that you've fought against time and time again. This guy's different."

Clint ignored him and continued, "This job doesn't wait for us to be ready for a fight, Doctor. We all do what it takes to protect the people we care about. If I'm going to have any chance of saving myself from being found guilty of murder, I have to go out there to first prove that I'm worth all the trouble. You'd do the same thing, as you've always done."

"If you insist on going, then perhaps these might be of some help to you," Bruce finally relented as he walked over to another table in the room and picked up a large wooden box, then handed it over to the archer as Bruce opened the lid to show Clint what was inside. "Tony and I worked on a couple of new arrows for when you came back. They'll help you for when you're up against an attacker that you don't want to kill right away, or possibly can't be killed. Who knows? Tony will probably be upset that he didn't get to give them to you, but he'll get over it. Let me know what you think when you get back."

"Thank you, Doc… Bruce," Clint responded sincerely as he picked one up to get a feel for it and admire the head, to learn about what it can do. "I should get going."

When Clint finished placing his new arrows into their places inside his quiver and then strapped it over his back, Bruce spoke up saying, "Be careful out there. I'd join you, but I don't think my particular ability is needed for this occasion."

Clint nodded, then ran out of the room while carrying his bow in his left hand, and headed out. However, he didn't make it very far before he was suddenly surrounded by a dozen agents, all of them with their guns trained directly on him. He recognized most of them and knew that he could probably fight well enough to take them down without doing much damage, but as they all had been given the authority to kill him, he wasn't willing to take that risk. Natasha would never forgive him.

"Bruce, it looks like my plans have just changed," Clint called out through his com as he slowly lowered his bow to the ground and took off his quiver. "Don't worry about me for now. I'll be fine. Just make sure the others are all right."

"I'm on my way down to…" Bruce started to answer until he was quickly cut off.

Clint interrupted, "No! If you try to help me now, you'll just get angry and the big guy will come out and make a mess. These men are only doing their job. They don't deserve to be knocked down or killed for that."

One of the agents moved closer and put the barrel of his gun on the archer's chest as he said, "That's very generous of you, Barton. Now, hand over your com as well. We can't have your friends coming after you to cause us trouble. The council wants to have a word with you."

"That's funny, it turns out I want to have a word with them too," Clint replied as he removed his com from his ear, then tossed in on the ground in front of him and crushed it under his foot. "Let's go."

Meanwhile, back to the attack at the Vault…

Tony flew to the tower after having Fury send him the coordinates of the tower to him through JARVIS, followed closely by Thor and finally Steve, who was flying the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter, which pretty much belonged to them now so that Steve would be able to go off on his missions, without having to depend on an agency pilot to fly him everywhere. As they arrived, they found each of the prison's guards down, some of them dead and most of them only unconscious.

"What kind of monsters are we dealing with now, that could do something like this?" Steve asked sadly when they cautiously walked up to the four brutally slayed guards at the entrance.

As they entered the tower, Tony responded, "Apparently, Nick was right about the Grim Reaper and whoever his so called leader is, not being our everyday criminal."

It was then that the three teammates were suddenly attacked by several of the Grim Reaper's men. As they fought, they all seemed to fall pretty easily as they discovered that these men were only human, not alien like they expected them to be. As the first group finally was down, Steve noticed a tattoo on one of the mercenary's hands and picked it up in order to get a better look. It was then that he recognized the symbol and his eyes became cold and angry.

Thor looked around at each of the men and then back at the team leader as he said, "It appears that each of them have the same marking on their hands. Do you know what it symbolizes, Captain America?"

"It's the symbol for HYDRA," Steve answered. "Anyone, who works for them is much more dangerous than we initially thought. Whoever the Reaper has come in here to break out… the director's right. If we can't stop him, then we'll be up against someone with as much power as Loki."

_"Guys, can you hear me?_" Bruce suddenly called out through their coms. "_We've got a major problem._"

Tony quickly asked, "What's going on, Doc? Are these thugs attacking my tower now too?"

Bruce continued, "_No, but Barton's been taken by a group of agents working for the council,_" Bruce continued.

"Why on earth didn't you Hulk out and smash them to help him?" Tony asked again in frustration. "And wait a minute, how did they get in? My place is well secured against intruders, especially against S.H.I.E.L.D."

"_They didn't get in,_" the doctor replied. "_Clint left against my protests to go and help you guys knowing that you were in danger. I couldn't stop him._"

Tony responded curtly, "You could have if you had just gone Hulk on him and knocked him unconscious. I swear, Agent Romanoff is going to kill us this time."

Steve suddenly heard more of their attackers running toward them and quickly said, "I'm afraid we've got a bigger problem to deal with right now. Doctor, call Natasha and tell her we need her to get here as soon as possible. We're in trouble and could use all the help we can get."

"_We're on our way_," Bruce answered.


	15. Chapter 15

Live to Rise

Chapter Fifteen

When the Grim Reaper's next wave of men charged the three Avengers, they were once again cut down, but this time, the distraction was enough for a smaller group to sneak up on them and start to fire their laser guns in their direction. Steve caught the attack just in time as he put up his shield for protection, even for Tony since he didn't know if the power of their weapons would be strong enough to penetrate his armor. Tony suddenly fired two energy blasts from his gauntlets, knocking most of them out and then Thor finished off the rest as he threw his hammer at the ones left standing.

Steve stood up straight and the three of them looked around as they continued to walk, or fly in Tony's case, further in through the tower. When they made it into the first cell block, they were in awe as they saw the number of prison cells that contained prisoners. A few of them made cat calls or idle threats as they passed by, but most of them just glared at them.

After no more attacks were made against them by the time they arrived at the second cell block, Steve finally spoke up as he said, "There's something not right here. We know this Reaper is dangerous and yet so far it's been way too easy for us in taking his men down."

It was then that the lights throughout the block slowly began to go out and Tony retorted, "You just had to go and jinx it, didn't you, Cap? Why couldn't you have just kept the thought to yourself?"

Thor was suddenly thrown hard across the room and crashed through one of the far walls as he was charged at by a new attacker that was even bigger than the strongest body builder or sumo wrestler known. Tony quickly fired a couple more energy shots at the man, who they clearly recognized was not just a human, but he easily managed to block the attacks using a large battle axe, which only caused the energy to reflect back against Iron Man, his weapon appearing to be made of a metal as strong as Thor's hammer.

Tony tried to dodge his own blasts, but was struck by the second and knocked down to the ground. The man moved to take a swing at the billionaire until Captain America jumped up onto his back and struggled to hold on to the man in order get him to back away from Tony long enough for him to get back up, but the attacker quickly grabbed Steve by the back of his suit and threw him over his shoulder to the ground beside Tony, who's suit was suddenly no longer working properly, causing him to have trouble getting up.

"Ah, I think we've got ourselves a problem here," Tony called out grimly as the attacker just stood in front of them grinning. "JARVIS, can you hear me?"

"It appears that… the power… within… the… prison has… been…" the A.I. tried to reply until he was finally cut off all together.

After Steve helped the billionaire up off the ground, Tony tried again as he asked, "JARVIS, what's happening?"

As the force fields keeping the prisoners inside their cells began to shut down one by one, Steve softly answered, "It looks like JARVIS and your armor aren't the only things not working properly. The power all around us is being shut down and the rest of the prisoners are either going to attack us, or escape. What could possibly be causing this?"

"That would be me, my patriotic friend," a caped man with a long scythe responded as he moved to stand beside their first attacker, who remained still as he grinned toward the two teammates. "This clever little device in my hand has a great deal of power, similar to that of what you call an EMP I believe, although with slower results. It doesn't appear that your armored friend will be of much use to you anymore."

"I'm not completely helpless," Tony angrily replied as he attempted to fire off another blast from his gauntlet toward the now two villains before them, until nothing happened. "Let me guess, you're the Grim Reaper, am I right? You're almost just as I expected you to look, except that the scythe is in place of your hand, which oddly is also not totally different. Do you know Captain Hook? He had a hook for a hand instead of…"

A third man walked over and into what little light there was that was coming through the prison tower as the remaining mercenaries walked in from behind Steve and Tony with their flashlights on and their weapons trained directly on the heroes, as the newcomer quickly shouted, "Enough of your babbling! Who exactly are you?"

Steve remained calm as he answered crossly, "We're a team that fights to put evil like you and your band down in order to protect the innocent."

"We're called the Avengers," Tony added. "Perhaps you may have heard of us?"

"Neither of you have power enough to defeat me and your friend with the hammer is currently busy fighting off another group of these, villains as you call them," the man, who was clearly the leader that the Grim Reaper had come to break out, responded as he raised his right hand, which began to glow and emit an unusual red light. "I am Baron von Strucker, leader of HYDRA. You already know my right hand man and the rest of these poor miscreants are only those that your leader, Nick Fury, has locked away here. They will finish taking care of you for me, while I go and begin my plans to reintroduce HYDRA back into the world. Reaper, go and find Fury. Bring him to me alive. I want the pleasure of killing him slowly for all the pain he has inflicted upon me since he has put me into this hell he calls a prison. Goodbye, Avengers. I am sorry I do not have time to take care of you myself."

After trying to get his armor working again and JARVIS to come back, Tony finally looked over at Steve and asked, "So, what exactly is the plan now, Cap? We're in trouble, just like you said and I've got nothing."

Steve replied, "We fight. We fight until we can't."

"And how exactly are we supposed to fight against him, or the rest of these guys for that matter?" Tony asked as the man with his axe, a few other inmates, whom they could clearly see had their own abilities, as well as the rest of the Baron's and Reaper's mercenaries began to surround them. "I'm powerless and although I told the glowing glove guy I wasn't totally helpless, I lied. I can't really fight worth a damn."

"I am called Executioner," the big guy said as he raised his axe over their heads to strike, while Steve quickly put up his shield to protect himself and Tony, when all of a sudden, the Hulk swiftly smashed his way in as he hollered and pounded Executioner hard into ground until he was unconscious.

Just as the mercenaries turned their weapons on the Hulk, who turned around to fight against them, and two of the prisoners were about to make their own attack on Steve and Tony again, Natasha suddenly appeared, tossing a couple of her smoke discs at the inmates' feet and then attacked them with ferocity and agility that amazed both Steve and Tony every time they watched her work, before the criminals even knew what hit them.

Once they were down and the rest of the newly freed prisoners scrambled to escape in order to avoid getting caught again, Tony removed his helmet as he walked over to the Black Widow and spoke up saying, "Can I just say, you are insanely hot when you fight. I know you're kind of spoken for, but…"

Natasha interrupted him as she asked, "Are you guys all right? Where's Thor?"

"I am here and doing well," Thor answered as he came back into the second cell block carrying an unconscious inmate under his arm and then tossed him as he rejoined the group. "It is good that you and the Hulk have joined us. We must go after the ones, who have escaped."

"I think we're already too late for that," Steve responded angrily. "Too many of them have scattered, I'm sure in all directions, and it will take more than just the five of us to track them all. Besides, our top priority is to find Baron Strucker and the Grim Reaper. We have to stop them both."

The Hulk stomped back over after finishing off the rest of the remaining mercenaries and prisoners with some kind of ability as he said, "Hulk smash new monsters."

Tony patted their green giant as he answered, "Great work, big guy! Listen, I agree with you, Captain. After I can get JARVIS to fly my new suit here, what do we do?"

"Hulk, you, Thor, and I will track down Strucker," Steve responded. "The Reaper is going after Director Fury. Tony, I want you and Agent…"

"I'm going after Clint," Natasha suddenly interrupted. "I know how important it is for us to stop both our villains, but I can't let Clint remain in the council's custody any longer. They'll disappear and Clint will die before I can find him. I won't let that happen."

Steve turned to face the assassin and spoke up again sadly, "I understand how much he means to you, Natasha. He's a good friend to each of us, but both Strucker and the Reaper stand as a threat against the entire world, just as Loki did. All of us are going to be needed to stop them and we're already down one man. We cannot risk everyone's lives in order to save Clint, as terrible as it sounds, but I swear to you, we will do everything we can to find him when our fight is over. I have no doubt that he'll be able to take care of himself until we can help him. Are you with us?"

Natasha turned away from everyone and put her head down as a rage began to build up within her, then after a minute she turned back around and everyone could see the fierceness in her eyes as she answered firmly, "I'm an Avenger, the same as you. I'm in."

"All right," Steve replied as he gently put a hand on her shoulder. "I need you and Stark to find the Grim Reaper. Do whatever it takes to stop him and protect Fury. Both of you be careful."

"As soon as we rescue our fair director, he's got a lot of explaining to do," Tony responded in frustration as everyone, besides Natasha, left the Vault. "He'll be lucky if I decide not to kill him myself for once again keeping such a huge secret, as big as a prison for mutants and highly skilled monsters. You would think that that would be something important to tell us."

As Natasha walked, she coldly replied, "I don't think that even JARVIS would have enough data space to store all of Fury's and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets. I trust the man with my life, but not with anything else."

Tony nodded his head as he answered, "Well put, Agent Romanoff."


	16. Chapter 16

Live to Rise

Chapter Sixteen

The eleven remaining members of the council, plus a new arrival, who had been sworn in to replace the member that had been murdered, all sat within an oval shaped room with leather chairs set up on a large, rounded podium, surrounding the center of the room. The men and women talked quietly amongst themselves as they prepared for the upcoming trial, when the doors opened and several agents escorted Clint in, whose wrists were now in chains, and into the middle.

As he stood there silently, all of the councilmen stared down at him from what appeared to him to be their thrones. Clint had never seen the council in person and hardly ever on screen whenever Fury talked with them. Even then, he only ever saw the four main members, who were the heads of the council. It wasn't common knowledge that there were actually twelve in total, but Clint knew without Fury, Hill, or Coulson ever having to tell him. He had made it his business to know as much about S.H.I.E.L.D. as he could before he finally agreed to join them however long ago it was that he had.

"Clint Barton, code name, Hawkeye, you are here to stand trial for your traitorous actions against S.H.I.E.L.D., against your country, and most of all, against humanity," The leader spoke up smugly. "There are several counts of treason for which we find you guilty of, the most recent one being the murder of one of our colleagues while he was meeting with a friend in Prague. Do you deny this?"

"I think you already know my answer," Clint replied firmly as he glared up at them. "How dare you hide behind your power and authority to do whatever you want? How dare you call yourselves righteous leaders, who stand to help bring peace to this world by doing what the President and his men can't, when you know that I am not the one that killed your friend? I may be guilty of disobeying your orders when I was told to kill Agent Romanoff so long ago, but it turns out that I was right not to, as she is now one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most powerful assets. I admit that I am guilty of fighting alongside Loki and I did kill a number of innocent men and women in the process, including Agent Phil Coulson, but I will not admit guilt for killing your councilman."

Another leader of the council spoke up as she asked, "Do you deny that you were there in Prague at the time our friend was killed?"

It was then that Fury suddenly marched through the doors and walked into the room to stand beside Clint as he answered swiftly, "Agent Barton was in Prague at the same time your friend was killed, but he was never in the apartment where your man was found, nor did he even know the man was there."

"Director Fury, this is a private trial and you were not invited to be here for this," the leader responded angrily.

"And why is that, councilman?" Fury asked confidently. "Is it so that no one can stand against you in Barton's defense? He has every right to have one, or are you willing to break the rules just for another way to make sure he is brought down? I will stand up for him because he is one of my friends and is a hero to this city, to this world, and to me. He saved my life, even while under Loki's power. When the battle took place, Agent Barton fought with the other Avengers to bring the god down and together, they won. You say one of his arrows is what killed your councilman and you have it as evidence to use against him, with his fingerprints all over it, but in truth, that arrow could have been picked up by anyone during the cleanup of our city after the big battle. Finally, Agent Barton couldn't have been the one to kill your man because at the time of his death, Barton was being pursued and then captured by other dangerous criminals."

One of the women replied, "So you say."

Fury glared at her as he continued, "How do you explain the condition he's in? He was half dead when Captain America and Agent Romanoff finally caught up to him in Kiev."

"As I told your man earlier to tell you, they were only there to warn me of the kill order you had placed over my head," Clint quickly cut in. "They were there in order to bring me in safe and alive. If you are going to punish anyone, punish me and no one else. You have nothing on them."

"Be quiet, Agent Barton," the director answered in frustration.

Clint responded, "It's only Barton. I'm not an agent anymore."

Fury ignored him and looked up at the council as he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I understand that you are against Agent Barton and the rest of the Avengers, but what is going on here is a sham and I will not allow you to kill an innocent man just so that you can start what will be the end of the Avengers if you continue to go down this road."

"Barton has already been found guilty of his crimes," the leader replied haughtily. "It is too late for your attempt to protect him, Director Fury, and if you go against our proceedings to try to save him, then you will no longer remain director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers will be forced to disband once and for all. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"This is exactly what you wanted from the beginning," Fury answered. "You are angry that I chose to defy your orders and had Tony Stark stop you from releasing the nuke into the city. And you have hated Hawkeye ever since he went against us to save Agent Romanoff's life, so you came up with a plan to get everything you want, using Barton as your scapegoat. His death means the end of the Avengers, the end of my career, and then once again you will be free to be the kings and queens you believe yourselves to be."

One of the women responded again, "You are out of line, Fury, and we hereby relieve you of…"

All of a sudden, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the room, causing Fury, Clint, and the few agents surrounding their prisoner to fall to the floor as the force knocked them down. A few of the councilmembers had fallen as well, but those that remained unaffected, turned to see what had caused the explosion, as did both Clint and the director. Standing in what was left of the doorway, stood the criminal Fury immediately recognized to be the Grim Reaper, whose scythe was drawn and ready for an attack. At least a half a dozen mercenaries stood around the Reaper with their guns aimed in their direction.

Fury quickly called out, "Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest you get out of here now by the other exit."

"I don't think that's going to happen, Agent Nick Fury," the Reaper replied. "I have my men stationed at the other exit as well, waiting for you to attempt to escape. Men, kill everyone else, but leave Fury to me."

As soon as their attackers open fired, Clint swiftly shoved two of the agents, who had stood up when he and Fury had, back down to the ground and rolled over them to protect them, then quickly rose up as he tossed his two daggers, which he had taken off of them as he propelled himself over them, into two of the Reaper's men's chests, killing them instantly, and finally began to fire his own gun, which he had also taken back. Fury followed suit and together, the two men managed to wipe out all of the mercenaries that surrounded the Grim Reaper moments before.

"Fury, get the council and the rest of the agents out of here," Clint spoke up as he painfully stood once again after they were all suddenly thrown backward as the Reaper swung his blade and discharged an electromagnetic power blast toward them. "I'll take care of this guy. I could really use my bow and quiver right about now."

One of the agents answered, "They're in another room in this building, not here."

Clint and the director fired off several more rounds toward the Reaper, as he was the only one left standing, in attempt to keep him back while he blocked the bullets from penetrating his armor, then Clint responded, "Then, go get them and bring them back to me. The Reaper wants Fury, which means he and the rest of his men are not going to stop coming after us. We'll hold them off and the rest of you get out of here. What's his deal, Nick? How'd you piss him off?"

"He's only here to bring me to his boss," Fury replied as they exited the room on the other side and worked to take out the rest of the mercenaries with their pursuer, Clint using his fighting skills after his gun ran out of bullets, while the councilmen and other agents fled. "If we live through this, I'll explain later."

"Sure you will," Clint answered and then watched as Fury fell against the wall as a bullet from one of the mercenaries struck him in his shoulder. "You need to get out of here. The team needs you. I can take care of myself."

Fury shook his head as he turned to look at Hawkeye and said, "I'm not leaving until I know I can actually believe that, not until you get your weapons of choice."

It was then that one of the agents suddenly came back and quickly handed Clint his bow and quiver full of arrows, as they stood behind a wall for cover while the mercenaries continued to fire at them, then he took off again, leaving the archer and the director alone once again. Clint swiftly pulled his quiver around his head and strapped it to his back, then raised his bow as he tethered an arrow, and let it fly toward the remaining men's feet. As soon as the arrow struck the ground, it set of an electrical discharge, causing each of the men to collapse to the ground unconscious.

As he and Fury moved out from their cover, while the director held his hand over the wound in his shoulder, he spoke up again saying, "I didn't know you had an arrow that could do that."

"It was a gift from Stark and Dr. Banner," Clint responded without looking back at him. "Now get out of here and protect the council, not that they deserve it. You know it's the right thing to do."

"Don't worry, he won't be alone," Natasha replied, knowing he didn't want to leave Barton, as she suddenly rounded the corner with her guns out and ready for a fight, followed by Tony, who was now in a new suit thanks to JARVIS getting it to him back at the Vault.

As the Reaper finally rounded the corner and stood back as he stared at Clint angrily, Tony added, "You didn't think we would miss a chance to get even with your new friend here, did you, Legolas?"

As Fury took off in the same direction the council and the rest of the agents had gone, Clint answered, "I really wish you'd stop calling me that. I take it you guys have already met."

"I'm very impressed, archer," the Reaper spoke as Tony used his lasers from his suit to cut through the cuffs over Clint's wrists. "You managed to take down all of my men to protect men, who were planning to have you killed. You have…"

"If you're going to say I have heart, save it," Clint interrupted angrily. "The last time someone said that to me, I ended up being his puppet. We didn't allow him to walk away free and we're certainly not going to allow you to either."

The Grim Reaper easily cut through an arrow with his blade as Hawkeye let one fly toward him, then the villain responded, "I was going to say you have spirit and strength that I've never seen in a man before. It's a pity that I have to kill you."

Tony raised his arm and replied, "Yeah, that's not going to happen, ugly."

He quickly fired a blast from his gauntlet at the Reaper, but he was easily able to block it as he spun his scythe, which then let off a force that propelled both Clint and Natasha backward as it had done to Clint and Fury earlier inside the trial room. Tony's suit protected him from the power their attacker emitted, but he looked back to make sure that his friends were all right. As he did so, the Reaper suddenly attacked Tony, trying to cut through his armor, but Tony blasted him again, causing the attacker to fall back until he fired off his own blast toward the billionaire.

While Iron Man and the Grim Reaper were fighting, Clint stood and bent down to help Natasha stand as well. They watched as the fight took place between their friend and Strucker's right hand guy and it was then that Natasha suddenly figured out a way to bring him down once and for all.

"Stark, keep him busy for just a few more seconds," she spoke up as she ran forward, then jumped up, and threw herself off the wall in order to flip over them, landing directly behind the Reaper. "I've got him."

As soon as she landed, Tony moved backward and watched as Natasha reached out and suddenly let off thirty thousand volts of electricity into his neck from her bracelets. When she finally let up, the Reaper collapsed to the ground on his knees as his scythe retracted and slowly raised his head to glare at Tony and Clint, who moved to stand beside the billionaire with his bow raised and an arrow tethered once again, then let it fly. The arrow struck the Grim Reaper directly in the Reaper's metal plating covering his right wrist, which sent a shock through him, instantly shorting out the technology that allowed him to release his blade.

"Nice shot, Hawkeye," Tony said as he gave him a pat on the back. "Now, let's leave this scumbag for the others, while we go and help the rest of our friends. He won't be any more trouble."

Tony flew off and Clint started to follow after him until Natasha suddenly came up to him and kissed him on his cheek, then softly spoke up saying, "I'm glad you're all right."

Clint nodded and answered, "I am too. Let's get going. We've got a city to save, again."

Meanwhile…

Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk pursued after Baron Strucker with help from JARVIS, through the Hulk's com, as he wasn't at the Vault when the Reaper's EMP had gone off to affect it. When they finally caught up to the old man, who was now no longer an old man due to some kind of ability he had, which they had yet to find out what it was, the Baron was causing chaos across the Brooklyn Bridge, firing his weapons at the traffic and slicing a sword's blade that he carried with him through car windshields and tires. The people were panicking and running for their lives.

It was then that the three Avengers watched as the Baron grabbed hold of one of the bystanders by their arm and the glove over his right hand began to glow, as did he. When he finally got close enough, Steve suddenly threw his shield hard at the villain in order to get him to release his captive and turn his focus back on him and his friends. The bystander collapsed to the ground unconscious and Steve moved to go and help her as Thor threw his hammer at Strucker to distract him. However, Strucker raised his glove toward the hammer and telekinetically tossed it aside and into the ocean.

Steve rolled the woman Strucker had attacked over onto her back and discovered that she wasn't just unconscious, but almost dead, realizing that the glove allowed him to drain the life force from a person's body in order to regain his youth. Steve knew that the source of this enemy's power came through his glove and that the only way to stop him was to take it away from him for good.

As the Hulk made his way across the bridge, he became busy trying to help clear a major accident, as a large semi-truck's trailer was about to go over the bridge's edge and several people were trapped inside their cars. Thor called his hammer back out from the ocean and then called down the lightning, charging the electricity at the Baron. The force knocked him back, but he quickly managed to get back up and ran toward the structure's bunker within one of the towers that leads up to the very top.

Both Thor and Steve were about to pursue after Strucker again, until they saw that the Hulk was getting shot at by several cops, who had arrived at the bridge to do their job. Not knowing the whole situation, they assumed the Hulk was the one responsible for this mess. Steve ran toward the Hulk as he roared at the officers and picked up one of their patrol cars, then hurled it toward them in his rage. Thor caught the car before the men got hurt and Steve blocked another round of bullets as he jumped down in front of his friend, putting up his shield to block their fire power.

"The Hulk is not your enemy," Steve said as the cops finally stopped firing when they saw Captain America stand in front of the beast. "He is one of the Avengers and we're all here to help you, protect you from the man, who is responsible for all of this. The Hulk is a friend."

"Captain America speaks the truth," Thor responded as he flew down and landed to stand beside Steve, in front of the Hulk. "We must work together to help save those who need our help now."

Steve began to give orders to the people, who were able to help, and then together they all began to take care of the injured, trapped in their cars or not. After a few minutes, Steve and Thor stopped what they were doing, as did the Hulk, when they looked up and saw Baron Strucker standing on top of the bridge's tower.

All of a sudden, Strucker used his telekinesis to pull down two of the bridge's suspension cables, causing them to collapse in the middle of traffic, wreaking more havoc among the people still trapped below. Thor swung his hammer and flew up to charge at the Baron, but was forced back roughly by his power as well, causing him to fall into the ocean. The Baron then collapsed part of the other tower down into ocean on top of the god, in order to delay him from rising back up for a while. The Hulk was about to charge forward to break the tower that Strucker stood on down, but Steve yelled at him to stop in order to protect the people around them. The Hulk stood down as he roared in anger, while Steve stood there and looked up, trying to come up with a way to stop the Baron without causing any more harm.

It was then that Iron Man suddenly appeared above them as he called out, "I've got him, Captain!"

Tony flew up and hovered in front of the Baron as he fired energy blasts from both gauntlets. However, each blast stopped dead as they struck some kind of energy barrier that Strucker was emitting around himself. The billionaire realized that there was nothing he could do until they could figure out a way to bring down the force field. The Baron simply smiled as he concentrated and pulled down another cable and forced it to strike against Tony, causing him to crash hard against the bridge's road down below.

Steve ran over to him and helped him up as he asked, "You all right, Stark?"

"Oh yeah, just peachy," Tony replied. "It's not like I haven't just come from nearly getting my butt kicked by another baddy."

"Is the Reaper taken care of?" Steve asked again.

Natasha and Clint came running across the bridge as Tony answered, "Agent Romanoff made the takedown and we got our more, friendly assassin back. Fury managed to find out where the council was holding his mock of a trial and broke in on his behalf. So, what's our plan to take Strucker down?"

Steve responded, "He managed to knock Thor into the water and you down to the ground like you were rag dolls. What can your A.I. tells us about his shield?"

"JARVIS, you heard the man," Tony replied. "What's the verdict?"

"It appears that his force field is only an energy barrier," JARVIS answered. "Your energy blasts and guns won't be able to penetrate to get to him. Only a solid object at close range will be effective, which means…"

The Hulk interrupted, "Hulk smash evil glove man."

Steve shook his head and responded, "Perhaps after we win, but there's no way Strucker will allow you to get close enough to him to do it. There's got to be another way."

"If you can keep him busy and focused on you, leave that to me," Clint replied firmly. "I won't miss."

"All right, you've got this, Hawkeye," Steve answered as Clint ran off toward the bridge's bunker.

Thor finally rejoined the Avengers and responded, "If Hawkeye needs a distraction, then a distraction is what he will get."

It was then that Fury's voice suddenly came over Tony's com as he said, "Stark, whatever you do, do not kill the Baron. You cannot kill him, or his body will release toxic spores that will kill everyone on that bridge, including all of you. Do you read me?"

"You're just… full of helpful information today, aren't you Nick?" Tony retorted in frustration. "Do you… copy that, Hawkeye?"

"I heard you," Clint replied through his own com. "I've got one of your arrows with Strucker's name on it. I'm almost there."

The god flew up high into the sky out of reach of Strucker's power and called upon the lightning to come down on the villain, knowing that it wouldn't go through his shield, but maybe it would be enough to weaken him. Tony also flew up again as well and began to fire more of his bursts at him from his gauntlets. Steve, Natasha, and the Hulk only watched from down below, until Strucker pulled off another cable and wrapped it around Tony, squeezing it tighter and tighter, making it so that his suit began to short circuit.

The Hulk charged up the tower and attempted to strike at the Baron long enough for Tony to escape from his binds, but like Captain America had said, Strucker was able to toss him away as he had earlier to both Thor and Tony, causing the Hulk to fall into the ocean. Tony was still struggling to get free, but as he did so, Clint finally arrived on top behind their enemy and swiftly tethered one of his specialty arrows into his bow, then released it.

Once the arrow struck his back, Baron Strucker turned around in alarming speed and grabbed Clint roughly by his throat with his gloved fist, as the archer struggled within their enemy's grasp. Strucker pulled Clint up off the ground and held him out over the ocean as he and his glove once again began to glow, then began to drain Clint's life force.

Natasha screamed out, "Hawkeye, no!"

Thor was about to charge the villain to try to help their friend until suddenly the arrow that Clint had fired at his back began to emit a loud sonic pulse, causing the Baron to drop Clint and scream out in agony as the pulse was too much for him to handle. Tony finally broke free from the cable, then flew down as fast as he could, and caught Hawkeye, who was now unconscious, in his arms before he crashed into the ocean.

Afterward, Iron Man flew the archer back over to where Natasha and Steve waited for them on the bridge, then gently lay Clint down on the ground. Blood was dripping from his ears and they realized that the pulse must have caused severe damage to their friend, as he had been too close when he pushed the button on his bow to activate the arrow. His skin was also pale and his body lifeless, thanks to the glove draining his life as the Baron had done to all of his other victims.

His partner pulled him into her arms as she seemed to have done so many times as of late, then Tony flew back up to the top of the bridge's tower in order to check on Strucker, who was also unconscious, the glove no longer glowing, and carefully pulled it from off of his hand. As he did, the glove began to glow once again, but this time it suddenly began to reverse its effects, as Clint's life force was returned to him. However, the archer didn't wake.

Steve then reached down and gently pulled their friend up into a fireman's carry and together, he and Natasha walked across the bridge while the onlookers stared at them as they slowly made their way to a waiting rescue vehicle that would take them back to the helicarrier, where Director Fury and the rest of the agents had gone after their fight against the Grim Reaper, the Reaper now in their custody as well. Thor and Tony flew Baron Strucker back behind their friends and together, they waited for word on Hawkeye's condition.

Two days later, as Clint continued to lie unconscious in the ship's medical bay, the four main members of the council boarded the helicarrier in person to oversee their loyal agents as they take Barton into custody once again. When she heard the news, Natasha stormed out of her partner's room, where she spent most of her time since they had been back, and started to charge the councilmen until Steve and Tony held her back.

Tony spoke up before she could as he said, "We should allow her to beat you down to a pulp, but we're not willing to let her go down on charges that she would actually be guilty of and you'll take Agent Barton over our dead bodies. Am I right, Captain?"

Steve only nodded, as did both Bruce and Thor, who answered, "And I am immortal, which means that you cannot take him."

"I didn't think of that," Tony responded.

"Barton has been found guilty of…," the leader began to say until he was suddenly cut off.

Director Fury interrupted the councilman as he spoke up, "We all know that the charges are bogus, just as we all know Agent Barton is innocent. Agent Hill, if you please."

Maria walked into the room carrying a few files in her hands and said, "While you were away at your so called trial for Agent Barton, I was able to bring a few of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most trusted agents to your headquarters, which I was able to find thanks to help from Stark and JARVIS, Stark's A.I., as well as Director Fury. We tore your place apart in search of any evidence we could find, proving that you had been the ones to kill your own man in order to get rid of Barton, Fury, and the rest of the Avengers once and for all. It was a risky plan for sure and I wasn't as convinced that you were behind it all like Fury, but I trust him. It turns out, we couldn't find anything, at least not until JARVIS sent Fury a couple of emails, on Stark's orders, written by someone unknown. It took us a while, but we finally managed to track him down and it turns out, one of your own has betrayed you as well. He doesn't agree with the way you run things, especially with your plan to use Barton to accomplish your goal to get rid of those that stand in your way. It took some convincing, but I finally managed to get him to agree to testify against you. I'm afraid you're sunk."

"You did it!" Tony replied in surprise. "I can't believe you actually solved it. Nice work, Agent Hill."

"Thank you, Tony," the woman answered.

The council leader spoke up again as he said, "You can't do this to us. We are above…"

Fury interrupted, "Not anymore you're not. The twelve of you are all under arrest. In time, a new council will be formed, but until then, I'm completely in charge of things, Agent Barton is cleared of all charges against him, and the Avengers will remain intact, where they belong. Good bye, councilmen. I can't say it's been a pleasure. Agent Hill, please, please have your men place these men in chains."

"Bye, bye!" Tony called out as they were all escorted away. "You know, Nick, I never thought I would I admire you, but after that, I actually do."

Three weeks later…

Clint continued to lie in his hospital bed aboard the helicarrier as he slowly recuperated from everything he had been through over the last several months. He woke up less than a week before and found that he could hardly hear, as his hearing had been seriously impaired. It wasn't surprising as he knew that he had been too close to the sonic arrow he set off in order to beat Baron Strucker, but thanks to Bruce and Tony, the doctor and billionaire had managed to find a way to fix the problem as best as was possible, giving him back ninety percent of what he had lost.

On the night the Avengers had finally moved him back into the Avengers Tower, Natasha walked into his room quietly and took a seat on the edge of his bed, as he sluggishly moved over to make more room for her. Neither one of them spoke at first as they stared into each other's eyes, as if they were already having a conversation. Clint was the first to look away until Natasha reached down and gently began to stroke the side of his face in a comforting gesture.

"What's wrong?" Natasha asked softly.

Clint looked back at her and responded, "Nothing. You and the others saved my life, even after I left."

His partner quickly replied, "Just because you left, it doesn't mean you abandoned us. You had some things to sort through. We all understand that. Besides, you saved us several times since you came back. What kind of partners would we be if we didn't want you to stay with us?"

"You really still think I'm worth coming back to the Avengers?" he asked.

"You still don't?" she asked in return.

Clint looked up at the ceiling and then answered, "It was because of me that the council almost succeeded in disbanding all of you."

Natasha responded, "No, if anyone's to blame, it's only the councilmembers and now they're paying for their crimes. You've paid for whatever crimes you believe you've committed, a hundred times over. We want you here with us. We couldn't have beaten Strucker without you."

"She's right you know," Steve replied as he, Tony, Thor, and Bruce walked in to check on their friend. "At great cost to yourself, you stopped him and saved all of us. If that isn't the heart of a hero, an Avenger, then what is?"

"I guess I have no choice then," Clint answered. "Besides, I have a feeling that if I say no, then you will all come after me again and drag me back here against my will. I can't let you all lose your focus on what's important, or Fury might not fight so hard to protect us next time. Thank you, all of you, for saving my life and my hearing."

Bruce responded, "The honor was ours. Get some more rest now. It won't be long before you're back in action and will have the opportunity to get a decent night's sleep."

Thor spoke up saying, "I am glad you have decided to remain with us, Clint. You are truly an honorable friend, whom I shall cherish always."

"Hey, welcome back, Legolas," Tony said as the others walked out again. "Just so you know, I won't be giving that nickname up any time soon."

"I know," the archer replied as Tony turned to walk out. "And Tony, your arrows worked beautifully. I look forward to you showing me how you and the doc came up with them."

Tony smiled and answered, "Trade secrets, my friend, trade secrets."

Clint and Natasha laughed as he left. Then, she leaned down and kissed him gently on his cheek, then turned to walk out, but as she did, Clint grabbed her by her arm and pulled her down as he kissed her lips tenderly. Though love didn't come easy to her, it was hard to deny that it was something she truly felt because of Clint.

Natasha let up for a moment and stared down into his deep blue eyes as she whispered, "I love you too, Clint. I can't help but think I always will."

The End


End file.
